Re: Access or SQL Server 2005?

"analyst" <no@xxxxxxxx> wrote in
news:du09d2012s0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:

BUT in the meantime... I'd like to load OS and software that will
work best with where I'm eventually going....

What came from Microsoft...
Office Pro '03 (10 user)
Windows Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows Small Bus. Server 2003 (10 user)
Windows XP Pro (10 user)
Windows XP Pro x64 (10 users)
SQL Server 2005 (10 users)

Roll out the Server 2003, or stick with XP Pro?

For what?

With 10 simultaneous users, you really ought to run a standalone
server, so have one machine with Windows Server 2003. That can be a
file server storing the Access data file (the tables only), and the
10 users can run the Access app from 10 WinXP Pro workstations.

I wouldn't bother with Small Business Server, as it has limitations
that are not of any help to you. The only thing it would be good for
would be running Exchange Server, but that's outside the scope of
the app you're asking the question about.

If you have concurrency problems in an all-Access, you can install
SQL Server and upgrade the back-end data file to SQL Server.

But start with Access alone. It should be just fine for 10
simultaneous users.

I would recommend, though, that you normalize your spread***
before making it into a database. If you don't, you'll regret it.
That means breaking out all the repeating information into separate
tables. There's a wizard in Access to help you analyze your data and
normalize it for you. However, it's not foolproof (if you're a fool,
then be careful! :).

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/
.

Quantcast