Christopher Hawkins
clh at christopherhawkins.com
Fri Jun 22 13:17:35 CDT 2007
I agree with you guys that SQL Server (especially with SQL Server Express being so good and so free) is the best choice. However, I deal mainly with small businesses and a fair portion of the time, these guys don't have their own server, don't want to pay to use my SQL Server, or already have their site on $10/month shared hosting and won't spring for the extra $5/month to add SQL Server. Dropping an mdb file into their webspace is the quick and dirty solution for clients whoare only willing to pay for quick & dirty. :) Of course, the clients who have a little vision and are willing to spend money on the industrial grade stuff get SQL Server back-ends. I recommend SQL to everyone, but some of them balk. And don't even get me started on the "fix-it" projects where I have to go in and repair sites that are underperforming. Ugh. The difference tends to be between clients who do not understand the value their site provides to the business, and clients who do. I mean really, $5/month to add SQL to your shared hosting? For the love of all that's holy, crawl off the dime. :p Anyway, my point was not that SQL Server is not the best choice - clearly it is; I'm focusing my whole business around it - but rather that MS Access is not the kiss of death for web back-ends that many seem to think it is. That said, if I never had to do another MS Access back-end again, I'd be OK with that. Robert: I hear you on hosting multiple sites out of one database. I've got a database that is serving up content for 8 different sites. We tagged every record with a SiteID and it's off to the races! Good stuff. -C- ---------------------------------------- From: "Robert L. Stewart" <robert at webedb.com> Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 11:48 AM To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com Subject: Re: [AccessD] MS Access and data-driven websites SQL Server all the way. Using one database, you can prefix the customer/project to the table name and add them to your hearts content. There is not a reason to use JET/ACE to power the backend of a site. I have multiple sites up and all using the single database approach. Works like a charm. Robert At 12:00 PM 6/22/2007, you wrote: >Sent: Thursday, June 21, 2007 4:58 PM >To: accessd at databaseadvisors.com >Subject: [AccessD] MS Access and data-driven websites > > >Hello, all! It's been a while since I was here, but I had a thought today >that seemed like a perfect fit for the list, so here I am. > >Over the past few years I've more or less specialized around SQL Server and >ASP (both classic and .net). In fact, 90% of my projects that involve an >interface run in the browser now. But the one place where I have not been >able to escape MS Access has been on small web sites. > >Now, I know that the "conventional wisdom" is that using Access to power >dynamic web sites is a bad idea. In fact, what inspired this message was a >conversation I had with a DBA acquaintance of mine about this very subject. >He is adamant that it's better to pass on a project than to agree to use >Access to power an asp site. With him it's SQL Server or nothing. He cited >all the usual stuff about Access being too slow and not being able to handle >load to bolster his argument. > >But, I've had several Access-powered web sites go up over the past few >years. Sure, it's mostly serving text content, but I've never had an >Access-specific problem with any of them. And some of them are reasonably >complex on the back-end! It seems to me that when an Access-powered site is >sucking wind, the problem is more in how the pages are coded than in how JET >works. It seems simple to me; you don't grab more records than you need, >you close your recordsets, you keep your connection code clean, you turn off >the Subdatasheet property in the mdb. Little things like that. > >For my larger clients, sure, SQL Server is the way to go, and I'm on the >road to becoming a SQL Server guru myself, but I don't really see any >downsies to using Access to power small sites. > >Is anyone else doing a lot of web work? Are you using Access to power your >dynamic sites? If so, let me know what your thoughts are on this. > >Respectfully, > >Christopher Hawkins >Chief Developer >Cogeian Systems >(559) 687-7591 >www.cogeian.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com