So I'm inexperienced in hosting DB's and I've always had the luxury of someone else getting the db setup.
I was going to help a friend out with getting a webpage setup, I've got experience in Asp.Net MVC so I'm going with that. They want to setup a search page to query a db and display the results. My question I have is in getting the DB setup and hosted. They currently just have the Access DB on a local computer. There is basically only one table that would need to be queried for the search.
What is the best approach to getting this table/db accessible? They would like to keep the main copy of the db on the local machine, so copying the entire db over to the hosted site would be time consuming, could the lone table needed be solely copied to the host? Should I try to convince them to make changes on the hosted db and just make copies of that for their local machines? Any suggestions are welcome, Again I'm a total noob when it comes to hosting databases.
Thanks
Added: They are using a MS Access 2000, and the page will have access restrictions. Thanks for the responses.
How about SQL Server Express? I think you can do a remote connect from Access and just push the data over from Access.
I wouldn't use Access on a web server in any case.
I would strongly recommend against access from web work, its just not designed for it and given that SQL server express is free there is no reason not to give it a go.
You can migrate the data over by using the SQL server upsizing wizard, here is a link for help on using that feature
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237980
It depends on what you mean by web work? Access 2010 can build scalable browser neutral web applications. They can scale to 1000's to users. In fact, you can even park the web sites on Microsoft's new cloud hosting options, and scale out to as many users as you need.
Here is a video of an application I wrote in access 2010. Note how at the half way I run the same application including the Access forms in a standard web browser. This application was built 100% inside of the Access client. The end result needs no ActiveX or Silverlight to run.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU4mH0jPntI
So, the above shows that access can now be used to build scale web sites (you can ignore the confusing answers by the other two posters here they are not quite up to speed on how access works or functions).
However, for your case, I would continue to have the access database on the desktop. You can simply link to tables that are hosted on the web server. Those tables can exist in MySql, or sql server. As long as the web site supports external ODBC connections (many do), then you can thus have the desktop application use the live data from the web server. If connections to the live data at all times is a issue, then you could certainly setup something to send up new records (or the whole table) on some kind of interval or perhaps the reverse, and pull down new records on a interval from the web site (depends which way you need to go). So, connecting to MySql or sql server is quite easy as long as the web hosting and site permits external ODBC connections. I do this all the time, and it works quite well.
As mentioned, new for access 2010 is web site building ability but that does requite Access Web services running on SharePoint.
You don't need to upgrade to Access 2010. One option is to use the EQL Data plugin to sync the database up to the server. Then you can write an asp.net, php, or whatever application that queries the table using the EQL API and prints the results however you want. This kb article describes how to use the EQL API from a web app.
The nice thing is that the database is still totally usable (and at full speed) even when you're not online, and then you can sync the new data up to the web occasionally. It only uploads the changes, not the entire database every time, so it's fast.
Disclaimer: I work at EQL Data so I'm a bit biased. But this kind of use case is the whole reason the company exists.
Related
I have been looking for a way to put a database like an microsoft access relational database shared among many people. You used to be able to create a web app but that's no longer supported.
I've heard powerapps is a solution but it looks like it is to be used only by phones or tablets?
I already have a office 365 account with access to multiple applications. Is there anything that can be used to create what I am asking using those services?
Or do I need to look into SQL databases?
You are correct that classic Microsoft Access is not web/browser based (after an attempt was stopped by Microsoft).
A browser based web database requires a back end database that supports the front end web server. In the Microsoft family that would be SQL Server behind IIS. This is all mainstream stuff - but an order of magnitude more complicated than classic Access. There are of course competing brands besides Microsoft - the most well known being the LAMP stack.
There exists a group of web database services, as an alternative: Knack, QuickBase, Zoho, etc. With these one must live with the User Interface and feature set they offer.
For a windows application (i.e. Access) with geographically separated users one would rely on the terminal services technology by deploying a Remote Desktop Server. This is primarily oriented towards internal users - not public facing.
I want to know how to connect Xamarin.Forms PCL with SQL Server directly. I know accessing the database directly will not be secured. But that's not problem in my situation. I need to access database directly from Xamarin.Forms. I am using Visual Studio 2017. I have developed an app with Xamarin.Forms PCL.
In answer to your question, use Entity Framework Core and a connection string, directly to your database. That will enable you to connect directly to it.
Now, I'm going to spend the rest of this answer, why you shouldn't do this
You are giving a remote, unknown, complete stranger, complete, direct access to your database. Even if it's in a separated network, with completely trusted users, and not on the app store, you are still opening your database up to potential security breaches.
It is likely over an unreliable mobile connection or wifi. It will fail and drop out, a lot.
It will be incredibly slow
If you want to move that SQL server later or update, you will break every single client out there, while you send an update for your app.
You won't be able to easily add any logic, in between, to improve performance, or add business logic as needed.
Database corruption, another important and likely to occur scenario, as mentioned by Brandon above.
What you need to do.
Create a web api. It's easy to setup one with WebAPI with dotnetcore
The API connects to the database, the mobile client connects to the API.
Add authentication to your API.
And I go into some more detail in Connecting to a remote database here.
I've recently been hired on as an intern to take over a previous intern's Access 2003 Database. I have no prior experience in Access, and only a fundamental understanding of relational databases/SQL.
I'm looking to make the database faster, and more secure. Right now it's split on the network drive, with the backend database in a subfolder within the main project folder. It's being used by around 70 employees to take tests and store certifications. Several admins use it to create and print these tests.
It's extremely slow. The files are currently stored on a server several states away. If I transferred this database to Sharepoint, would it be faster and more secure? Is it worth the time and effort to do so?
The employees that use this database currently access it from a .exe on their desktop. Would sharepoint be more user friendly for them?
Alternatively, would moving the .mdb files to a closer server solve the speed problem? I'm currently using Access 2010. The forms are painfully slow to use as of right now.
Thank you
Moving the files to a local server would alleviate a lot of the speed concerns. Moving the file to SharePoint wouldn't do much different in terms of performance. But I'm assuming the files aren't local already for an unstated reason? Ideally, it should be moved to MS SQL server if you want to move the database, but that requires MS SQL knowledge.
Moving to SharePoint will only work if you up-size the data tables to SharePoint lists.
You cannot place the Access mdb/accDB file on SharePoint in some shared folder and have multiple users update at the same time. The reason of course is SharePoint files cannot accept “partial” writes. You have to "pull whole" file to client, update, and send whole file back. So this is not a possible setup with Access.
Access requires in multi-user mode that individual users can update “ONLY bits and parts” of the file at the SAME time. When you place a Word or Excel or in this case an Access file on SharePoint then the WHOLE FILE must be downloaded to the client. User then edits and then saves the file back up to SharePoint. So SharePoint is whole document based not file based like windows is. There is no NTFS file system - only a web based up/down file system (very much like FTP).
So SharePoint is a web based interface and Access requires the windows networking system + ALSO the ability to update bits and parts of the file (something SharePoint does not support nor any web site for that matter).
However if you move your back end tables out of Access and up-size the data to SharePoint tables (lists), then the Access front end clients can connect + edit that data. This is not much different in concept of up-sizing the data tables to SQL server.
So Access front ends can connect to an Access back end on a file server (your current setup), or connect to SQL server tables, or connect to SharePoint tables.
I explain how to up-size data tables to SharePoint in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wdjYIby_b0
In some cases Access to SharePoint tables will run absolute circles around Access to SQL server. However in other cases such a setup will run SLOWER then SQL server. Only an experienced Access developer on a case by case basis can determine if SharePoint tables would be appropriate for your application. As the other poster points out adopting SharePoint or SQL server will require experience with those technologies along with likely a few good years of Access experience. Remember Access has a rather long learning curve – in most cases longer then say learning c++
In your case due to the Wide Area Network (WAN), then I suggest terminal services is your best bet.
I explain in easy to grasp terms as to why your setup now is slow in this article and what solutions you can adopt:
http://www.kallal.ca//Wan/Wans.html
I am setting up two dev environments (one will be on my local server, another on a cloud service provider where I will do work which may require more memory than on my local server).
What can I do to ensure that both environments are always fully in sync? I am looking at deploying apps centrally and using a tool to sync SQL Server databases, and another tool for keeping Sharepoint servers in sync, between two VMs on the two environments which are like-for-like. Is there anything else which would help to achieve this?
Thanks
This is a very tricky problem for SharePoint development.
As far as SQL server goes (for non-SharePoint stuff), you can just sync your databases using the tools provided in SQL Server. The copy database wizard for example or you could even write your own SSIS package if you need custom work to be done.
SharePoint is a different matter though. You cannot just sync site collections / web applications from one server to another by just copying the databases across, it won't work (for many reasons, but mostly because when you create a web application on a server, it creates the databases using a GUID as the application ID. That GUID is used everywhere in the database and all the links between tables will be broken if you try and change it). The structure of the SharePoint database is not documented and MS recommends against modifying it manually. And honestly, even if you did manage to sync your databases right from SQL server, you would run into other problems because not all customizations you do are saved into the database (a lot of stuff goes into the 12 hive).
So it comes down to what you are trying to achieve.
If you are trying to sync customizations (i.e. your Content types, list templates, web parts, etc.) that were coded. I would recommend that you just build WSP packages from your development environment and that you deploy them everytime you need to sync.
If you are only trying to sync data (i.e. list items) you can use the backup / restore solution (you'll find it in Central Administration). Note that it isn't overly reliable if you have customizations though. It works fine on out of the box sites but it can be tricky to restore once you use your own list templates, etc.
You can also write code to sync using the web services or Content Deployment API and see if it suits your needs.
You can also look into tools that will do all or a part of the work for you. Here is one
So basically, no matter how you decide to do it, it won't be as simple as you expected it to be. The DEV / TEST / PROD environment sync problem is classic for SharePoint development.
I work on a highly customized SharePoint web app and the best solution we found was to :
Be very disciplined in our code : do all your customizations through code and build WSP packages with that code. No SharePoint designer. Once you customize a page with SharePoint designer you can't sync anything.
Sync the lists between any servers using the web services
Hi everyone I hav a small problem in uploading my database. I have created a localhost website on my pc for a vehicle tracking system and now i have no clue in uploading it. It's got two Microsoft Access databases in my pc which is used in the website and they get updated at very regular intervals(almost every second) it has to be uploaded to the web real time. Right now I use ODBC on a localhost..
Does anybody have any idea how to do it?
Please help if so...
Depending on your traffic using ACCESS in a webserver multi user environment will be a real pain. (File in access, etc). Perhaps try to build a webservice to make changes directly on the server?
If you don't want to use ODBC you may have a look at ADO connectionstrings (www.connectionstrings.com is a goot starting point).
I would concur with #Sascha I wouldnt even bother wasting the time trying to run your site with access.
Depending on your host you should have access to a free mysql or mssql database. Use this instead. Write a new page that takes parameters and writes them to your online database, that way you can set up a relay on your machine that pushes the changes from your local machine to the web.
This is definitely not easy, but it can be done. You would need to run a SQL Server database on the web server, and then push the data from Access to SQL Server, or pull it from SQL Server.
We've got a couple of links talking about it at SQLServerPedia:
How can I synchronize data between MS Access and SQL Server databases?
How can I link a SQL Server database to MS Access using link tables in MS Access?
Again, it's not easy - judging by the way you worded the question, you're not going to like the answers that you'll read about. You may want to bring in someone who's experienced with web-based databases and replication in order to bring you up to speed and set your expectations about how challenging this will be.