Setting up web database 1

[dakota81]

I've got the fine task of getting an Access application switched over so the backend data is provided by an internet server. I believe for what we're doing, re-writing it with cold fusion is going to restrict our usability too much and am trying to find other options.

A FAQ in this forum shows how to connect to a SQL Server database, but the server our database will be placed on currently runs Linux and the administrator wishes not to have to touch SQL Server. Is there another server software option available we could try out that Access can connect to? From the looks of the FAQ, the biggest step is getting the ODBC connection set up to the server.

Anyone have any tips on how to do this? Where to find information? I've searched the net and can't really find any relevant web sites discussing these kinds of setups.

 

[humbleprogrammer]

If your server runs Linux, you can use PHP to connect to the Access DB. Google search for PHP will pick up a ton of references. Tek-Tips also has a PHP forum. It's a big learning curve but PHP with Linux is probably on of the better options.

Good Luck!

 

[dakota81]

I think PHP may be backwards than what I'm trying to do. I may not have clearly stated what I'm looking to do, so I'll give it another shot:

Ideally this is what I want to do, each user will have an Access front-end with all the forms and reports that are needed. The back-end data will be made accessable from an internet server. From Access, I want to communicate with the back-end database file through SQL and have the query processing done on the server end and just the query results sent back through the internet.

If this can be done, I'm looking for any and all options that are out there, the only constraint right now is the server will be running linux. I haven't been too successful searching on google, I must just not know what keywords to use...

And if there's a different front-end interface I could use besides Access that provides similar programming strengths, I'm up for hearing those suggestions too.

 

[humbleprogrammer]

You may want to look at MySQL for the backend database. This is an ideal database for Linux. You can also connect to it with Access using ODBC. Check out

http://www.mysql.com/

for info on MySQL and

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/ODBC.html

for info about MySQL and ODBC.