We're putting together a mission critical system for deployment to Asia.
I've almost convinced my boss to deploy Interbase as the database engine,
but the other two members of my team have come forward with a preference for
using MS Access instead.
What I need is some real-life stories of deploying and using Access which
highlight the pros and cons of doing so.
If Access is the right solution for this situation then I don't want to get
in the way just because I have a better feeling about another product, but
if it's going to be a real problem then I need at least some anecdotal
evidence to back up my position.
SITUATION:
We'll be deploying a weather information system to Asia. It will have to be
managed from here since we have no support on the ground up there. The main
table in the DB will contain about 5000 records which will be totally
replaced DAILY over the course of the day as new information becomes
available. Other less volatile operational data will make up the rest of the
database (about ten to fifteen tables in all).
We may want a scalable solution (management think "probably not" but...),
but I'm not very keen on choosing Access just to provide an upgrade path to
SQL Server, since I've heard nothing to make me feel optimistic about this
process.
I'm told we won't be neding a multi-user system as such, but since our app.
will consist of several independant Exe.s and a Report Writer which need to
talk to the DBMS, we'll have at least two or three connections running
simultaneously.
The main problems we face are:
1) relatively high data throughput.
2) long distance for support and DB maintenance
3) use of a report writer (probably Crystal) for very complex output.
4) DBMS must handle almost simultaneous data insertion, general queries, and
reporting*.
*We will be deleting records as they become out-of-date. There will be very
little updating as the data is either valid or obsolete.
If anyone has any experiences to relate, I'd really appreciate hearing them
:-)
Simon Mahony,
System Creator,
MetService.
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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