May 5, 2011 at 10:20 am
A client of mine wants me to develop a solution using Ms Access as a front-end and SQL Server as a back-end.
Great no problem, I've done that multiple times now with Windows Authentication/Active Directory.
Now comes the more complicating bit: He wants his offices in other countries to connect to the same database. (bear in mind the MS Access front-End) There is no connecting intranet at the moment.
What would you recommend, what is possible at what costs. And more specifically would it be feasible some how combined with Active Directory?
Their current IT infrastructure providers are totally incapable it seems like. They just seem to make mistake after mistake. In the past they had their SQL Server Database available over the internet. As a result they got heavily attacked, so that was disabled.
What would you suggest?
Henk
May 5, 2011 at 2:45 pm
You are going to have an enormous amount of Network Traffic.
Microsoft Access is not a Client/Server Tool; It is more like File/Server.
If you do not go with ASP.NET then are you planning on using Citrix?
Check out the following link:
http://www.sql-server-performance.com/articles/dev/datetime_2008_p1.aspx
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
May 6, 2011 at 1:37 am
"Microsoft Access is not a Client/Server Tool; It is more like File/Server.
If you do not go with ASP.NET then are you planning on using Citrix? "
Thanks for your answer.
Basically I am using it pretty much as client server. I'm intending to run the queries on the server and rely heavily on function, procedures and SQL Server security.
I was thinking about Citrix server as well, and was suggesting Windows RAS server as an option.
But that would imply a lot of investing so I would like to look at some alternatives.
I'm sorry, I'm afraid your link doesn't make much sense.
Henk.
May 6, 2011 at 6:37 am
Sorry about the link. I was in the clipboard from a previous post.
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
May 6, 2011 at 9:41 am
do you recall what the actual link was?
May 6, 2011 at 9:46 am
I'm sorry. I did a lot of post. But if you have a question or need someone to look it up please let me know.
Sorry about that, my keyboard has been sticking. I type in you and the u key sticks, etc.
For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/
For better answers on performance questions, click on the following...
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/
May 9, 2011 at 11:04 am
There are a few issues with this scenario.
1. SQL Server will be exposed to the Internet. While this is doable, it's not fun. Definitely can't run with default ports or you'll see a lot of hits against it. That means non-standard connections from that Access client. This can be solved if you know the IPs the clients will be coming in on and you put the right ACLs in at the routers/firewalls.
2. Windows authentication is going to be near impossible, so you're stuck managing SQL Server logins. If they have Windows authentication working, that means there's a private network (I hope). If so, why can't you piggy-back on that?
3. Unless you go through the effort of getting an SSL certificate from a trusted third party CA, that means any data transfers across the Internet will be unencrypted. So if it's sensitive data in any way, shape, or form, this is a no-no.
4. Bandwidth is going to be an issue if it's a lot of data. Even on faster links, you could end up saturating things. That's why Citrix was recommended above. In that case Citrix can reduce the bandwidth down to Kb levels, instead of Mb or Gb for data manipulation.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley
May 10, 2011 at 5:50 am
Thanx, that really helps.
You are both mentioning the use of Citrix. Are we talking about an Application Server that you log in to just like Remote Desktop, or are we talking about something completely different here ?
Henk
May 10, 2011 at 6:43 am
Citrix is built on top of the Terminal Services technology but provides a greatly enhanced experience, especially as far as manageability is concerned. You can learn more at http://www.citrix.com. It's not new technology, either. They've been doing this sort of thing since the Windows NT 3.51 days.
K. Brian Kelley
@kbriankelley
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