Should I set up a server (homemade)?

Question

I have a small business that uses a number of access databases. I want to build a server to host all the databases on 1 central location oppose to have them dupicated on each of my office computers. I want to use a older computer to do this. Each database files is a minimum of 3gigs i have about 20 of them.

My issue is ... if i use the older computer to host the databases can i run the databases straight from that computer? if so whos memory is used (computer user or server computer)

Answer 1

It depends on how you access the databases. If you just use the server as a network drive from the clients, the bulk of the processing is done on the client, but the network demand is high on the server. If you use some VB apps or ODBC stuff from the client, the processing is 'split' between the server and the client, with the bulk of processing done on the server.

Answer 2

It depends on how old the computer is. If you have multiple users accessing multiple databases, then the memory requirements for the server are going to rise. I have seen some older computers that do not have a large enough maximum memory size to even run decent desktop applications under XP.



Access was never designed to be a central server, and as such is not very efficient in a server capacity. It will use up memory both on the server and on the desktop. There are some issues involved in sharing the database. If you use the server as merely a file server and run the application from your desktop, you will have concurrency issues if more than one person wants to update the database at one time. If you set up your application as client server and run it that way, it will be able to host simultaneous users as long as they are not trying to update the same data.



If you have set up the applications yourself, there is a way to split the data and the screens you set up and run the free version of SQL Server instead of the Access engine. It is a much more robust server and will handle the sharing issues.



The recommendation for a backup is, of course, always a good one. Although with 20 files at 3 gig each, you might want to invest in an external USB hard drive and use it for a backup. Buy more than one and rotate them for off site backups in case of a physical disaster.

Answer 3

Normally, the database software (like MySQL) runs on the same computer that the databases are one. Other computers then query that computer.



For instance, say you had some sort of website that used php server side and had a MySQL backend to store user acconts, etc. You could run apache and MySQL on the same machine. You could also run apache on one or more machines and have them access one machine running MySQL. But it would be kinda weird to have the database files on a network share and run the MySQL daemon remotely. Not only would it add latency, but multiple daemons trying to use the same files could cause problems.



In short, both the database files and the daemon would be on one machine, using its resources, and all other computers would access that machine.

Answer 4

i suggest you set up a server on one computer but also back it up onto a flashdrive and put it at another computer just incase