Can Microsoft Reporting Services retrieve data from Oracle?

The very, very short answer is: "Yes."

The fairly short answer is "Yes, Oracle and reporting services can talk to each other in two ways, both of which are efficient and robust."

The longer answer is as follows:

The first method is a fast "Native OLE" method that relies on a component in oracle and a component in reporting services. In particular, version 7.3.3 and later of Oracle include the "Oracle Client and Networking Components" Reporting Services installation is a database connectivity component named "Microsoft OLE DB for Oracle."

These two features talk together to provide very fast access to Oracle, from reporting services (or any Microsoft technology) via OLE DB.

A second method also exists, namely ODBC. In this scenario an ODBC data source is defined that connects to oracle. Reporting Services then connects to the ODBC data source. This is slightly less performant and requires more configuration effort, so it is not the preferred method. But it is a very stable fall back position.

I've previously provided a list of favourite reporting services links.

My book "Choose Your First Product" is available now.

It gives you 4 easy steps to find and validate a humble product idea.

Learn more.