[dba-VB] Access data across the internet

Eric,

Thanks for the response.  I assume you are discussing a "browser based application"?

If so there are a couple of issues that I see.
1) I would have to learn a whole new paradigm from scratch.
2) Multi-user issues.

The client is a SOHO with "employees" consisting mostly of family members, who would work from their 
homes.  I understand the "setup" issues but at least for now that would be a very small number of 
machines.  I just talked to the client and, for example, he has two production scanners, one in CT 
and the other in Nashville.  It would be nice for each scanner to drop the scanned files (CSV files) 
into a common directory structure in the office in CT.  The program would then pull the CSVs across 
the internet into the local instance wherever that might be, import it into a local data store, 
process the data, then export the tables back out into a fixed width file back in the same server 
(different path) that the CSV came from.

You get the picture.  The thing that might make this work is that the files are tiny, 80 kb is the 
biggest I have seen so far.  I am actually looking at installing Hamachi on each of his "satellite 
offices" PCs, and building a virtual network around that Hamachi client.

I don't contend that this solution works for a huge system but not every system is huge!  And if it 
gets huge then the money will be there to support hardware VPNs etc.  Or even a port to a web 
service at that point.

John W. Colby
www.ColbyConsulting.com


Eric Barro wrote:
> John,
> 
> This is a good candidate for a web service. A web service allows you to
> expose certain methods to client machines outside the network.
> 
> 1. Basically in terms of servers you will need a web server and a database
> server (one physical server is possible but two are better due to security
> issues).
> 2. The web server exposes the web service application and takes care of
> authentication to the database server. The web server is the only one that
> is publicly accessible from the outside.
> 
> This saves you from having to set up VPN client software on the client
> machines and also saves you from having to purchase hardware to run the VPN
> on the server side.
> 
> Eric