Access over the web

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Access over the web

john-1056111

SSC Journeyman

Points: 86
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March 30, 2009 at 7:07 am

#198613

I have just bought a book (SQL Server 2008 Express for Developers).
In the book it instructs me to set my security to Windows Authentication. Eventually, after my database is finished, I will need to access it over the web. Should I have chosen mixed mode?
Is there any other factors I should consider to ensure access over the web?
Thanks,
John

Viewing 8 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

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JacekO SSCertifiable Points: 6610 More actions · Answer 1

Could you please elaborate more on this one. Do you want to access the database from a web server (IIS for example) or do you want to access the database remotely - directly over the internet?

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john-1056111 SSC Journeyman Points: 86 More actions · Answer 2

Sorry for not being clear.

I intend to write a desktop application program that will access the data remotely. Nothing to do with a website.

Thanks,

John

JacekO SSCertifiable Points: 6610 More actions · Answer 3

Remotely? How?

Directly over the internet? - Bad idea. Unless you are a security expert I think you going to get the server hacked before you finish your coffee.

Using a VPN? - If you authenticate to your network then you should be able to connect using the Windows Authentication.

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[font="Verdana"]Nothing is impossible.
It is just a matter of time and money.[/font]

john-1056111 SSC Journeyman Points: 86 More actions · Answer 4

Do you recommend the VPN route then? If not what do you suggest?

JacekO SSCertifiable Points: 6610 More actions · Answer 5

It depends. I do not understand what your application is going to do and why the Server is accessible over the web only. Who are the users? Individuals or remote offices? How many? What kind of internet conectivity do they have? etc. etc.

In most cases when the users are remote only it is much easier and safer to create a web application that accesses the SQL Server. Both the Web Server and SQL Server can be set up behind the firewalls, DMZs and things of this nature.

It is hard to give a good recommendation without having the understanding of the technical and business environments you operate within.

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[font="Verdana"]Nothing is impossible.
It is just a matter of time and money.[/font]

john-1056111 SSC Journeyman Points: 86 More actions · Answer 6

Here is the scenario.

There are 3 offices (France, Germany and the UK (HQ). Each office currently has their own desktop software. However, the UK branch want to access the data from Germany and France for further analysis.

Here is my idea.

The French and German offices both continue to use the desktop software as normal, but as well as writing to their local databases, a secondary copy is written to a SQL Server either in their respective local offices using the LAN (A) or in the UK office over the Internet (B).

A. If they write the data to a locally held SQL server then I need a way for the UK office to connect and retrieve the data.

B. If they write to the UK office directly then I need a way for the French and German offices to connect to the SQL server in the UK using the same desktop application.

Hope this all makes sense!

JacekO SSCertifiable Points: 6610 More actions · Answer 7

I think in this case you would want to have a VPN connectivity between UK and France and Germany, between the offices, not individual desktops. To do this you will have to get some VPN routers configured but I don't know how much do you want to get involved with this... It is quite possible that the routers you use now to connect to the internet can do the job.

If you have the offices connected like this you may have to use the mixed mode authentication because I suspect each office uses it's own network authentication and you do not want to merge them.

And I think I would go with option B, assuming the application can deal with this (is not location specific) and you have a way to merge the data already in place. (Is this a brand new application or you have something already in place and need to expand it?)

I hope it helps.

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[font="Verdana"]Nothing is impossible.
It is just a matter of time and money.[/font]