Setting up a Server with SQL Server/Web server
I was asked by a client who’s starting up a business to develop a software converting an access database into VB. One requirement would be, the database can be accessed from anywhere (internet I guess) and if possible with PDAs. I’m thinking of setting up a server with SQL server but is little bit confused due to limited knowledge in Networking as well as setting up a server. Can anyone help me on how I can do this and what resources (hardware and software) are needed. Does it also involve ISPs, If yes, what process needs to be done? Can the server be setup as webserver?
ASKER
I presume that this project would only be a small one. His agency is being manned by one person which is him, but the agency is under the govt and about 15 to 20 users (other agencies) would be able to login to access the database (so not really for public use). The users are agencies located in the different parts of the country or state.
I've been thinking of other options as well. As the budget is limited, i'm planning to use MS Access as the database with MS ASP. Users are able to login and they can generate queries and update records, but the problem is the requirement that they are able to process info locally and later upload the data at the later time (maybe other agencies are on a dial up). One thing is, I'm not really sure if ASP can handle processing of the database on the client side (i guess i need to make a research on this). Also, I haven't done any program in VB that accesses an Access DB thru internet. Only SQL Server.
But still, I would surely endorse him to have their own server for fast backend processing.
They have a website but is being hosted by an ISP.
It just came into my mind that if they will have a database server (SQL Server as RDBMS) , why not also make the server a web server as well to save.
And this is where my knowledge comes into limitation. I need to make this proposal in about a week and based on your message, setting up a server is not really an easy task. I would probably take this out of the scope and let them find a person that can setup the server and I would then concentrate on the software and database. I'll just include a recommendation to have their server setup.
One question here that I think is not related to this area is PDA. Are PDAs able to surf on the net using IE or Netsscape as browsers?
I hope this makes sense :)
Cheers
I've been thinking of other options as well. As the budget is limited, i'm planning to use MS Access as the database with MS ASP. Users are able to login and they can generate queries and update records, but the problem is the requirement that they are able to process info locally and later upload the data at the later time (maybe other agencies are on a dial up). One thing is, I'm not really sure if ASP can handle processing of the database on the client side (i guess i need to make a research on this). Also, I haven't done any program in VB that accesses an Access DB thru internet. Only SQL Server.
But still, I would surely endorse him to have their own server for fast backend processing.
They have a website but is being hosted by an ISP.
It just came into my mind that if they will have a database server (SQL Server as RDBMS) , why not also make the server a web server as well to save.
And this is where my knowledge comes into limitation. I need to make this proposal in about a week and based on your message, setting up a server is not really an easy task. I would probably take this out of the scope and let them find a person that can setup the server and I would then concentrate on the software and database. I'll just include a recommendation to have their server setup.
One question here that I think is not related to this area is PDA. Are PDAs able to surf on the net using IE or Netsscape as browsers?
I hope this makes sense :)
Cheers
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I think you're going to have to get your requirements a little clearer before you embark on this project.
Is the web app going to be read-only? Public? Will it have sensitive info? How big will the database be? How much traffic do you expect? How many internal users?
You'll need at least one machine, 2003 server would probably be the platform, adequate disk, proper version of SQL server, adequate cals. This would get you going (in addition to your development tools and version tracking stuff) for an intranet environment and development. A second identical machine for production and potential failover would be nice. Backup tools and hardware if there isn't adequate capacity already. If it's going to go public you'll need connectivity from an ISP, a domain name, a router and hopefully a firewall.