Download Reportworq
⬇ Guide PDF

Server configuration#

Settings, Configuration is the administrative editor for how a Reportworq instance runs. It is a single screen with a seven-tab strip, reached from the Configuration card on the Settings landing. Each tab edits its own view of the settings store, and most changes take effect only after you select Save Changes. A few settings (the web server port, SSL, and the Repository path) also require a service Restart.

The Settings landing page, one card per administration area: Configuration, Security, Integrations, AI Prompts, Load Balancer, Auditing, Log Diagnostics, and Update Reportworq
The Settings landing page, one card per administration area: Configuration, Security, Integrations, AI Prompts, Load Balancer, Auditing, Log Diagnostics, and Update ReportworqTap or click the image to view it full screen
The Configuration screen tab strip
The Configuration screen tab stripTap or click the image to view it full screen

This page is a reference for every tab, the individual settings each one holds, and the three operational rules that cause the most trouble if you get them wrong: how peak memory scales with parallel execution, how to relocate the Repository safely, and the SSL self-signed certificate traps.

The header and the unsaved-changes guard#

The screen mounts on the Web Server tab and shows three header actions:

Editing a field enables Save Changes and marks the tab with an unsaved-changes dot. If you switch away from a tab that has unsaved edits, or close the screen, Reportworq prompts you to discard those edits. Switching tabs or closing re-reads the store, so unsaved edits are discarded rather than kept. Save what you change before you move on.

Note: administrator-level settings live here. Authentication is not on this screen, it moved to the Integrations hub. MCP and AI-agent access also live in the Integrations hub now, under AI Agent Access, not on the API tab. See The integrations hub.

The seven tabs#

Tab What it configures Notes and limits
Web Server Port, host, SSL certificate actions, the Repository path and Reconfigure, Recycle Service, Backup (create and send), and Workspace Files Workspaces themselves are not here, they are managed on Workspaces under Settings ▸ Security. Port, SSL, and Repository changes need a Restart.
Performance Execution (history retention, job concurrency, out-of-process execution, fonts), Contribution (log level, warm pool, session cap, recycling), Reporting (out-of-process queries, timeouts, log level), and Advanced Features (three switches plus Clear Repository Cache) Tunes job concurrency, the contribution runtime, and the reporting query engine. Advanced Features is collapsed by default. For how to size these against a workload, see Distribute the load.
Logging Logging (retention, clear/download/send logs, a live Debug Logging switch) and Audit Logging (audit retention and enablement) Debug Logging is a live instance-wide switch, outside the save flow. Audit settings feed the audit logs.
Email A provider dropdown (Basic, SendGrid API, Microsoft 365 SMTP, Microsoft 365 Graph), a Default From address, and a test-email action The field set changes per provider. Graph uses the Azure app registration. The test email is blocked until email settings are saved.
Reportworq API Local API key (created with Regenerate, plus Clear); for administrators, Cloud API Enabling the Local API with no key is a save error. The Cloud API category appears for administrators only. MCP and AI-agent access are no longer here, they moved to the Integrations hub.
License License information, status, key, and Activate / Release / Manual activation This tab has no Save or unsaved-changes flow. Its actions take effect immediately and reach the external license service, see Licensing and entitlements.
Data Collection Write-back settings and mailbox settings (provider, protocol, host, port, credentials) Available only with the licensed Contribution capability, which includes Data Collection; otherwise an empty state notes it is not in your license.

Individual settings reference#

Defaults below are the shipped defaults. Settings marked Restart take effect only after a service restart.

Setting Default What it does Tab
Web server port 8600 The TCP port the web app listens on (Reportworq 6 default; earlier releases used 8300). The Real-time Event Hub bus uses this port plus one (8601). Open both in the firewall for remote and clustered access. Restart. Web Server
Web App Host machine name The machine name, IP, or DNS name remote machines use to reach the web app. An empty value falls back to the machine name. Set this before starting any load-balancer nodes. Web Server
SSL / HTTPS off Enables HTTPS and the certificate actions. HTTPS is required for the Excel add-in and every Microsoft 365 integration. On a fresh Windows on-premises install it is turned on automatically at first boot. Restart. Web Server
Repository Path <install>\Repository The root of the content and configuration store. Changing it affects all users. Relocate it safely with the Backup sequence below, never by moving the folder live. In a load-balanced deployment it must be a UNC network share reachable by every node. Restart. Web Server
Recycle Service off An automatic daily application restart at a chosen time to free resources. Users refresh their browsers after the restart. Web Server
Enable Daily Backup on An automatic daily Repository backup written as a restorable .zip. Web Server, Backup
Backup Retention 30 days How long a backup zip is kept before deletion. Web Server, Backup
Parallel Job Execution 4 (range 1 to 50) Server-level concurrency, the maximum number of top-level jobs running at once. A load-balancer node's own settings screen carries a control of the same name that is a different setting, see the note below. Performance, Execution
Tasks per Job 3 (range 1 to 50) Per-job concurrency, the maximum outputs or variations running within one job. Performance, Execution
Enable Out of Process Job Execution on Isolates job execution from the web app process and frees memory after each run. Leave on unless support advises otherwise. Performance, Execution
Default History Retention 30 days How long job history is kept before it is purged. Performance, Execution
Compress History Files on Compresses job-history databases at rest. Performance, Execution
Notification Email blank The address that receives job notifications. Performance, Execution
Send notification on failures only off Restricts job notifications to failures. Performance, Execution
Custom Fonts Folder blank A folder of fonts to make available to report rendering. Performance, Execution
Enable Out of Process Contribution Sessions on Runs contribution form calculation in separate worker processes. Performance, Contribution
Contribution Log Level Warning The log level passed to contribution worker processes. Performance, Contribution
Warm Worker Pool Size 0 (range 0 to 50) How many contribution workers are kept started and waiting. 0 means no warm pool, so every session pays a cold start. Performance, Contribution
Max Sessions per Worker 1 (range 1 to 50) How many contribution sessions one worker process hosts. At the default, every live form is its own process. Performance, Contribution
Recycle Worker After Sessions 25 Recycle a contribution worker after it has served this many sessions. 0 never recycles. Performance, Contribution
Warm Worker Idle Timeout 30 minutes How long an idle warm contribution worker is kept before it exits. Performance, Contribution
Enable Out of Process Reporting Queries on Runs an analyst's interactive Excel add-in query in a dedicated worker rather than inline on their web session. Turn it off to fall back to in-process execution. Performance, Reporting
Reporting Log Level Warning The log level passed to the reporting query worker. Performance, Reporting
Worker Start Timeout 90 seconds How long to wait for a reporting worker to load its plugins and connect before failing the query. Performance, Reporting
Query Timeout 300 seconds How long to wait for a single interactive query to return. Performance, Reporting
App-log retention 90 days How long application logs are kept. Logging
Debug Logging off A live instance-wide switch that raises the log level. It generates large logs and HTTP-Archive (HAR) files, turn it on only when support asks, and off again after the capture. Logging
Audit retention 90 days How long each audit log is kept. A value of 0 keeps them indefinitely. Logging, Audit Logging

Size parallel execution against RAM, not just CPU#

Two Performance settings set concurrency: Parallel Job Execution (top-level jobs at once) and Tasks per Job (variations within a job). The theoretical maximum concurrency is their product, for example 5 by 5 is 25 concurrent tasks.

Two different controls are called "Parallel Job Execution". This one, on Settings ▸ Configuration ▸ Performance ▸ Execution, is this server's own job concurrency and accepts 1 to 50. A load-balancer node's own settings screen, and the max-jobs spinner on the main server's Load Balancer grid, carry a control of the same name that is that node's routing capacity and accepts 0 to 128. They are stored separately and do different work, so check which screen you are on before changing one.

The rule that matters for capacity planning: peak memory scales with the job count. If five jobs run in parallel and each needs roughly 2 GB, the instance needs about 10 GB free at the peak. Size the Performance tab against the RAM the server actually has, not just its CPU count. An under-sized box will run out of memory under load rather than simply running slowly. See System requirements for the baseline figures.

Capacity with a load balancer#

In a load-balanced deployment the concurrency limits apply per server. Each server runs jobs up to its own Parallel Job Execution and Tasks per Job, so the total capacity of the instance is the per-node figure multiplied by the number of nodes. Size the limits against the RAM and CPU of a single node, then scale total throughput by adding nodes rather than by raising the limits beyond what one node can hold. See Deployment topology for load-balancer setup.

Relocate the Repository safely#

The Repository Path is the root of the content and configuration store, so changing it affects every user. Never move the folder while the service is running, that risks corrupting the store the same way a live migration does.

Relocate it with this sequence instead:

  1. On the Web Server tab, under Backup, create a backup.
  2. Change the Repository Path to the new location.
  3. Restart the service.
  4. Restore the backup into the new location.

This gives you a clean, restorable copy and never leaves the store half-moved. The same backup zip is restorable to any Reportworq instance, so it also covers migration to a new server, see Migrate to a new server.

On a load-balanced deployment the Repository must be a UNC network share, for example \\fileserver\reportworq, reachable by every node rather than a local disk path, because all nodes read and write the one shared store. Set the path to the share before starting the additional nodes.

SSL and self-signed certificates#

HTTPS is mandatory for the Excel add-in and for every Microsoft 365 feature (Entra sign-in, SharePoint, Microsoft 365 email, and Graph). On a fresh Windows on-premises install, Reportworq turns on HTTPS for you at first boot with an auto-trusted self-signed certificate, so the first browse to the server is https:// with no manual step (see Deployment topology). To turn on HTTPS yourself, or to replace the certificate, use the certificate actions on the Web Server tab. A self-signed certificate is enough to unblock the add-in and Microsoft 365, but replace it with a certificate from a trusted authority as soon as you can.

Replace or regenerate the self-signed certificate#

Reportworq already creates and installs a self-signed certificate for you on a fresh install, so you use this action to replace or regenerate it, for example to cover additional host names or after a server rename. The Create Self Signed Certificate action generates a new certificate and turns on HTTPS if it is off. It prompts for one field:

On create, Reportworq installs the certificate into the server's Trusted Root store, so the server itself trusts it with no manual import. The certificate password is generated and held internally, there is nothing to copy down and nothing is shown.

Let client machines trust the certificate#

A self-signed certificate is trusted on the server automatically, but other machines' browsers do not trust it until you give them the public certificate.

  1. On the Web Server tab, select Download Trusted Root Cert (for client machines) to export the public certificate file, Reportworq-TrustedRoot.cer. This action is available once a self-signed certificate exists.
  2. Distribute that .cer file to each end-user workstation and import it into the machine's Trusted Root certification authorities, for example by Group Policy across the domain.

A certificate from a trusted public authority needs none of this client-side distribution, which is why it is recommended for anything beyond a quick test.

Install a certificate from a trusted authority#

A certificate from a public or internal authority is uploaded into the Repository, not typed as a path.

  1. On the Web Server tab, at SSL Certificate, select Upload Certificate and choose your .pfx (or .p12) file.
  2. If the file is password-protected, select Set Certificate Password and enter it.
  3. Restart the service, then browse the server over https:// to confirm.

Once a certificate is installed, the SSL Certificate row names it and when it expires, so you can check what the instance is actually serving without going to the file system. Where a public .cer companion exists, that name is also the link that downloads it for client machines.

Certificate notes#

To confirm a certificate's names against the URL you access, dump it on the server with certutil -dump "cert.pfx".

Common tasks#

Notes and limits#

Going deeper. For a one-click inventory of every job, report, parameter, burst set, schedule, and contact in the instance, generate the Repository metadata report from Settings, Auditing, System Log.

Feedback on this page

Comments, questions, requests, or something missing or unclear? Email us - the page you are on is filled in for you.

Email feedback on this page

Or write to support@reportworq.com directly.