SharePoint 2010 SSRS Local Mode

For SharePoint 2010 you may have heard about SQL Reporting Services (SSRS) running in Local or Connected mode. Here is some clarity on it. Simply put:

• Connected Mode – is when the SSRS add-in and when SSRS server has been fully installed.
• Local Mode – Is new to SharePoint 2010 and is a light-weight versus of SSRS that works with SharePoint only. This only has the SSRS add-in with no SSRS server.

One reason local mode was created was to support Access Services because SSRS may not be available to every SharePoint 2010 environment. All reports created in an Access 2010 web database will be converted to an SSRS report when deployed to Access Services. Here is a reference - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee662542.aspx

Now trying to define exactly what light-weight means is not always clear. I found this - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff487969(v=SQL.105).aspx. Some interesting points are:

• The Report Viewer is used to render reports in SharePoint.
• Works with MS Access 2010 reporting extension.
• Reporting services SharePoint list data extension – so SharePoint list data can be used as a data source.
• Will only support rendering reports that have an embedded data source or shared data source.