You migrate SSRS from SQL Server 2016 to SQL Server 2022. The reports are there. The data sources look right. The encryption key is loaded. Everything checks out until you open the web portal, and your data-driven subscriptions are gone. You can see them in the ReportServer.dbo.Subscriptions table, but the portal won’t show them. And when you try to create a new one, the option doesn’t even exist. What happened to your subscriptions?
The Investigation
This client was migrating their SSRS environment from a SQL Server 2016 Enterprise Edition instance to a SQL Server 2022 Standard Edition instance, both running on AWS EC2. The new server was built from an AWS template rather than a manual install. The client said they had tested things, but hadn’t checked subscriptions in the portal or tried creating one.
When I opened the SSRS web portal on the new server, the subscriptions section was empty. No data-driven subscriptions at all.
On the original server, the subscriptions were all there and accounted for.
When I tried to create a new subscription on the new server, the data-driven subscription option was completely missing from the menu.
I went through a long list of troubleshooting steps. Since I wasn’t the one who originally migrated the SSRS databases (ReportServer and ReportServerTempDB), I started by verifying that all the SSRS tabs matched between the two servers. I confirmed the encryption key was loaded and all settings were in place.
I checked permissions in the SSRS web portal. Under Manage folder > Security, I noticed the original server had BUILTIN\Administrators set to Content Manager. On the new server, the service account configured in the Subscription Settings tab wasn’t in the local Administrators group, and I didn’t want it there. I gave that service account Content Manager permission directly.
Under Site Settings, BUILTIN\Administrators had System Administrator permission on the old server, so I gave the service account System Administrator permissions on the new server as well. Restarted SSRS. Still no data-driven subscriptions.
I checked the SSRS logs and fixed some email errors along the way, but nothing pointed to why the data-driven subscriptions weren’t showing. Standard email subscriptions were visible, just not the data-driven ones. I compared the RSReportingServer.config on both servers. Nothing stood out.
Talk about pulling your hair out in frustration.
The Fix
After all of that, I found the answer: SSRS Standard Edition does not support data-driven subscriptions. You need Enterprise Edition.
The original server was running SQL Server 2016 Enterprise. The new server, built from the AWS template, was SQL Server 2022 Standard. That edition difference is why the subscriptions disappeared from the portal and why the option to create new ones wasn’t there, even though the subscription data still existed in the underlying database tables.
The client needed to move to an Enterprise Edition instance. Once that was done and I also reconfigured the FileShareStorageLocation in RSReportingServer.config to use a separate drive (the Standard Edition instance had been filling up the C:\ drive with report output), the data-driven subscription option reappeared.
This was just the first of three issues I hit on this single SSRS migration. The full story, including subscription Agent jobs not being created and a permissions issue with xp_sqlagent_notify, is covered in my full blog post on SSRS migration troubleshooting.
The Takeaway
- Know your edition features before you migrate. Data-driven subscriptions are an Enterprise Edition-only feature in SSRS. If you’re changing editions as part of a migration or upgrade, check the SQL Server feature comparison by edition before you start. The subscriptions data will survive in the database tables, but the portal won’t show them and you won’t be able to create new ones on Standard.
- Test subscriptions specifically. It’s easy to validate that reports render and data sources connect, and call the migration “tested.” But subscriptions, especially data-driven ones, need their own validation step. Create a test subscription. Verify it fires. Don’t skip this.
- Watch out for AWS templates and pre-built images. When you’re using a template to spin up a new EC2 instance, you don’t always get to choose every detail of the install. In this case, the template delivered Standard Edition when the client’s environment needed Enterprise. If you’re using templates for your SQL Server builds, verify the edition and patch level before you start migrating anything onto it.
Straight Path Solutions helps over 120 clients manage, migrate, and upgrade their SQL Server environments. SSRS migrations are among the many tasks our team handles as part of ourย DBA-as-a-Service offering. If you’re planning an upgrade or migration, especially from older versions nearing the end of life (like SQL Server 2016 in 3 and a half months), our team has a methodology and experience to get it right the first time.