[thelist] database connection across different IP's

Paul Bennett paul at teltest.com
Tue Feb 18 21:44:01 CST 2003


Ken Schaefer wrote:

>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>From: "Paul Bennett" <paul at teltest.com>
>Subject: Re: [thelist] database connection across different IP's
>
>
>: > Paul...
>: >
>: > Just to add a bit of clarification:
>: >
>: > If they are using Access as their DB backend, you won't be able to query
>: > the DB from the remote web server like you can with MS SQL or mySQL.
>: > Access
>: > does not have a "listener" to interface with the DB.
>:
>: so to interface with the db, the db would have to be on the same MACHINE
>: as the scripting language querying it?
>
>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>Not necessarily - it needs file system access to the .mdb file (since Access
>is file based - there is no "server" component that can listen for incoming
>requests.
>
>So, it is theoretically possible to do provide a path like
>\\otherServer\share\ourDatabase.mdb
>However (!), since one machine is outside the firewall, and the machine the
>database is hosted on is inside the firewall, doing something like this
>involves opening up SMB, or NetBT or similar on your firewall. This is a
>huge, huge no-no.
>
Ahhh (penny drops) so it is not necessarily a *connection* issue, but a
*security* issue. Now the "push" method makes more sense.

>Better would be a process that can *push* the data from inside the firewall
>to the webserver outside the firewall. Assuming you have Windows machines,
>you can use the Windows Task Scheduler to run a batch file (to copy the
>whole .mdb file) -or- a .vbs file (just put some VBScript into a file,
>instantiate some ADO objects etc) to create the necessary data and FTP or
>similar to the webserver.
>
>Even better would be having proper database servers that can automatically
>replicate data. However, it seems that $$ is a problem here.
>
Well, yes and no. They have a system that is running fine for their
internal use. To me it seems better for us to integrate with what they
have rather than trying to reinvent the wheel. They are only requiring
daily synchronisation of the databases - the whole real-time synch is
not an issue right now and would blow the scope of the project out of
the water entirely.

>
>Cheers
>Ken
>
>
>


--
Paul Bennett
Internet Developer
Teltest Electronic Design
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