Hi,
I have been assigned the task to generate about 36000 Excel files (12 reports, 3000 parameterized versions each) using SSRS during an overnight batch with a pretty tight deadline.
So far I've managed to reduce the generation time for one report, 1500 files (so only half the batch) from 2h27m to 1h22m by applying all sorts of workarounds, such as:
- Optimizing the report definition for exporting: cut all images, get rid of report footer, remove localization string lookup from DLL's, etc.
- Optimizing the use of report parameters by using multi-select parameters to generate multi-sheet Excel files and splitting these file in separate files by sheet using a tool I wrote in .NET.
I've must have read about one hundred forum posts on improving SSRS performance, exporting to Excel, etc... but the cold reality is that none of them provided a "golden tip" on how to dramatically improve performance by simply tweaking the server configuration, except for adding more hardware.
So before doing that, I would like to look into the option of upgrading to SSRS 2012, which would allow me to render XLSX files instead of the older XLS format.
Does anyone have some experience regarding the performance of rendering XLSX in 2012 files as opposed to XLS in 2008?