Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to Navigate Crystal Reports process flows.
See the following scenario depicting how the various Crystal Reports servers work together.
There are currently two distinct versions of Crystal Reports:
This course will focus on Crystal Reports 2020 as it was announced Crystal Reports for Enterprise will be discontinued in the next major release.
Administrators need to configure and maintain the Crystal Report services to ensure the proper functioning of the reporting environment.
This task includes settings related to server configuration, database connections, and other system parameters.
The following are the benefits of using SAP Crystal Reports 2020 Report Application Server (RAS):
It gives ad-hoc reporting features.
It allows you to create and change Crystal reports using the SAP Crystal Reports Server Embedded Software Development Kit (SDK).
The following features of the Crystal Reports Processing Server:
Responds to page requests from Crystal Reports for Enterprise.
Retrieves data for the report.
Generates the report and converts the data to encapsulated page format (EPF) files.
EPF files are sent to the Crystal Reports Cache Server.
EPF supports page-on-demand, so only the asked page is returned, not the entire report.
Improves system performance and reduces unnecessary network traffic.
The table shows various Crystal Reports service categories and how these services are used.
| Service | Server | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Crystal Reports 2020 Scheduling | Adaptive Job Server | Executes schedules Crystal Reports 2020 |
| Crystal Reports Scheduling | Adaptive Job Server | Executes schedules for Crystal Reports for Enterprise |
| Crystal Reports Cache Service | Crystal Reports Cache Server | Viewing Crystal Reports (of either type), both instances and on demand |
| Crystal Reports 2020 Processing Service | Crystal Reports 2020 Processing Server | Viewing and Refreshing Crystal Reports 2020 |
| Crystal Reports Processing Service | Crystal Reports Processing Server | Viewing and Refreshing Crystal Reports for Enterprise |
| Crystal Reports 2020 Viewing and Modification Service | Crystal Reports 2020 Report Application Server | Manipulating Crystal Reports 2020 via the SDK |
Crystal Reports Cache Service
Crystal Reports Cache Server handles the storage and retrieval of cached reports. Administrator need to allocate sufficient resources such as memory and disk space for the Cache Files Directory.
Crystal Reports Processing Service
Setting the maximum concurrent jobs to 0 means there is no enforced limit on the number of concurrent jobs. In other words, the server can handle unlimited number of concurrent jobs. Administrator need to confirm if sufficient resources are available. If resources are not sufficient, this will affect the BI platform performance and responsiveness.
This figure summarizes the possible viewing scenarios when viewing Crystal Reports. This complexity enables Crystal Reports to scale more efficiently (such as for larger reports and data sets). This feature is called Page on Demand.
The specific servers involved, and how a request to view a page is processed, depend upon a number of factors:
For more details on the different process flows, refer to these process flows in the Business Intelligence Platform Administrator Guide
Viewing a cached SAP Crystal report page | SAP Help Portal
Viewing an SAP Crystal Reports 2020 report on demand | SAP Help Portal
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