How do I have one database at more than one office 1

[snowyowl]

Hello, can anybody help me.
I have an ACCESS 2002 database that resides on my company's server and it's being used by three members of staff. Now it needs to be used at another company office. They both have their own servers. When it comes to adding records etc. how do the sites stay up to date with each other. Do they need a WAN or do I need to replicate and synchronise?


There is also the chance that it will need to be used at several offices around the country

 

[danvlas]

Time to install IIS on the server and create an ASP application to use the mdb file as back-end.

But that's just my opinion...

HTH



Daniel Vlas
Systems Consultant

http://www.geocities.com/danvlas/AutoMail.html

 

[snowyowl]

Hello Daniel. Thank you for replying to me. Please forgive me but I'm not too hot on the communications aspect of systems design. Could you please give a further explantion of what you mean by IIS and ASP

Thank you

Snowy

 

[shogun0803]

If you have a trusted shared area for these companies you can do this. If not I reccomend that the admin build on. DOing replication has not been Access strong point. To do data updating and appending would be a nightmare. Give me and email if you want to talk with you info.

Rick Smith
rsmith@litsllc.com

 

[nberryman]

Replication is a minefield. There is a white paper at Microsoft.com which I suggest you download and read carefully.

If you rely on an Autonumber field for such as Invoice No.s replication will change all autonumbers to a random sequence. If you are on invoice 12345 the next one after replication could be anything including minus No's.

Don't wish to scare you but it's not as easy as it first appears.



Neil Berryman
IT Trainer
neil_berryman@btopenworld.com

 

[shogun0803]

Sorry I did not put in my email info from last message.

Rick Smith
rsmith@litsllc.com

 

[dhaveedh]

Is it possible to give the other users in the new location access to the server where the current database is located through a shared folder?

If it is, why not put the database in the shared folder and then have users access the DB through this shared folder.

Do you already have a link (WAN or LAN) between the two offices?

My very simple thots.

 

[danvlas]

IIS=Internet Information Services
It is a 'server' that can be accessed over the Internet.

ASP: Active Server Pages
It's a 'language' that runs scripts on the server and it can be connected to the back-end.

Users would only need a browser to work with the data through ASP forms.
Each form would have a Cancel and a Submit button.
By clicking Submit, all data in the form is sent to the server, together with an ASP page (script) that will handle the values.
That ASP would connect to the back end database, will open a recordset and will add/edit/delete/retrieve what user requested. After that, it would return a 'results' page to the user.

Here are some "shy" tests I made some long time ago:

http://www32.brinkster.com/danvlas/

Note that the page extension is .asp rather than .html

It's a concept somewhat different from Access, so you'll need to take your time to learn it.

But when it comes to using Access over a wide area, you don't have too many options. It is just not built for that.

HTH



Daniel Vlas
Systems Consultant

http://www.geocities.com/danvlas/AutoMail.html

 

[johnmc64]

I'm with dhaveedh, those two offices should have a link between each other. Without a doubt, a single shared source is the best route. If your company does have a link, its about time they consider this. Replication has its difficulties. What Neil Berryman wrote is true, you can open yourself to some hellish changes. I would suggest you keep it as simple a possible.


JohnMc

 

[ad2]

An alternative to IIS and ASP (IIS has a lot of security flaws, as I have been told) is MySQL database and Dreamweaver MX to create the dynamic web pages in PHP to access the database via the internet.

You can develop in an Access db and then export your tables to MySQL. Create web pages in DreamweaverMX using PHP to update the MYSQL database.

 

[snowyowl]

Thank you for replying, it seems there is a choice here as with all computer solutions

Do you get a reasonable response time with this MYSQL and Dreamweaver configuration. Also on Dreamweaver, is that the new release?

 

[ad2]

I'm just getting into the MySQL but I understand that it is a good database for use with the web.

Yes, Dreamweaver MX is the new release. It will also create code for JSP, ASP, ColdFusion, ASP.NET ASP VB Script as well. It is now a rapid development tool.

Here is a link for some tutorials and other info:

http://www.melonfire.com/community/columns/trog/article.php?id=167

http://servers.digitaldaze.com/extensions/mysql/access.html

http://www.macromedia.com/cfusion/s...reamweaver&loc=en_us&term=MySQL&Submit=Search

 

[mkov]

Another option is if you have a VPN setup, you could have the other offices access the database over the VPN. I have a couple of databases currently being accessed this way by numerous outside offices.

This may not be the ideal solution for you, but just a thought.

 

[IcesMaster]

#1 By making dial-up connection and synchronize it every day when I don't need real time data.
#2 By using IIS and Data Access page through internet

 

[pullingteeth]

I'm using replication here, since attempting to share over a WAN proved to be too slow. It really isn't too difficult, but as has been said upthread it isn't up to the quality of, say, Oracle or SQL Server. E.g. My primary DB has lost its status of "Design Master", which means that next time I want to change anything, I have to import the data into a new DB and replicate that.

If you can use SQL Server, do so. You can make nice front ends in Access and link them to SQL Server using ODBC links. It will be about 2000% more reliable, and 900% easier to administer.