The URL precisely identifies the location of an instance of a report server application on your network. When you create a report server URL, you must specify the following parts.

Part	Description
Host name	A TCP/IP network uses an IP address to uniquely identify a device on the network. There is a physical IP address for each network adapter card installed in a computer. If the IP address resolves to a host header, you can specify the host header. If you are deploying the report server on a corporate network, you can use the network name of the computer.
Port	A TCP port is an endpoint on the device. The report server will listen for requests on a designated port.
Virtual directory	A port is often shared by multiple Web services or applications. For this reason, a report server URL always includes a virtual directory that corresponds to the application that gets the request. You must specify unique virtual directory names for each Reporting Services application that listens on the same IP address and port.
SSL settings	URLs in Reporting Services can be configured to use an existing SSL certificate that you previously installed on the computer. For more information, see Configuring a Report Server for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Connections.

When you access a report server or Report Manager through its URL, the URL should include the host name and not the IP address. On a TCP/IP network, the IP address will resolve to a host name (or the network name of the computer). If you used the default values to configure URLs, you should be able to access the Report Server Web service using URLs that specify the computer name or localhost as the host name:

• http://<computername>/reportserver
  
• http://localhost/reportserver
  

The settings that make these URLs available appear in the following table. This table shows the default values that enable a report server connection though URLs that include a host name:

Part	Value	Explanation
IP address	All Assigned	The domain name service on your network resolves the host name on the URL to the computer's IP address. As long as the IP address is specified in the URL that you define, a request that is sent to a specific host will reach its intended target.
Port	80	Port 80 is the default port for TCP/IP connections on a computer. Because the report server is listening on port 80, you can omit the port number from the URL. If you specify another port, you must specify it in the URL.
Virtual directory	ReportServer	Notice that both of the example URLs includes the virtual directory name. Unless you customize the URL definition, you must always specify the application's virtual directory name on the URL.

Note:
An underlying URL reservation enables any valid host name to be used on a URL. The Reporting Services Configuration tool creates a URL reservation in HTTP.SYS using syntax that allows variations of the host name to resolve to a particular report server instance. For more information about URL reservations, see About URL Reservations and Registration (Reporting Services).

Permissions on each URL endpoint are granted exclusively to the Report Server service account. Only this account has rights to accept requests that are directed to the Reporting Services URLs. Discretionary Access Control Lists (DACLs) are created and maintained for the account when you configure the service identity through Setup or the Reporting Services Configuration tool. If you change the service account, the Reporting Services Configuration tool will update all URL reservations that you created to pick up the new account information. For more information, see URL Reservation Syntax (Reporting Services).

By default, the authentication type supported on the URL endpoints is Windows authentication. This is the default security extension. If you are implementing a custom or Forms authentication provider, you must modify the authentication settings on the report server. Optionally, you can also change the Windows authentication settings to match the authentication subsystem used in your network. For more information, see Configuring Authentication in Reporting Services.

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