Terry,
Have you considered looking at some of the Sybase products - specifically
the anywhere range. The have replication and remote tools that allow you
to replicate from a central database to a remote partitioned database, and
then back again. Communication can be via email (MAPI, VIM, SMTP) or by
files. It'll handle very complex structures, although the more complex,
the bigger the machine, the more overhead generated. Speed wise
communication with the database is via ODBC, not too bad but makes it
simple enough to turn a stand alone system into multi-user system across a
network. If should save you some development time, and automates a
reasonable chunk a the distribution process.
Scott.
Terry Johnson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> on 24/01/2000 11:32:16 PM
Please respond to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: Multiple recipients of list offtopic <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc: (bcc: NZ Developers/NZ/GRE-Group)
Subject: [DUG-OFFTOPIC]: Architecture advice please...
Hi All,
I'm in the process of writing an app that needs internet connectivity to
download updates for local databases and upload small amounts of data to a
central database. The program needs to be useable off-line, so web based
solutions seem to be out. The remote end is likely to be SQL Server, if
that makes a difference. There are also likely to be many (thousands of)
users.
What it looks like to me is that perhaps Midas or dbOvernet or similar is
what I need. The problem I have is that client/server stuff of this nature
is new to me, and I'm trying to decide on the appropriate hammer to crack
this peanut with.
I could of course write my own IP solution wrapped around a fairly standard
protocol, but I don't want to get in the way of other services running on
the server (e.g. SMTP/POP3). Maintenance wise, this sounds like a bad idea
to me, but would be devoid of licensing cost and probably quite efficient.
I'm also very cynical about the quality of 3rd party libraries, having
spent too much time debugging them in the past, so would at least get to
create my own bugs.
I imagine many of you have dealt with systems of this nature before, and
any views/comments/sarcasm would be greatfully received.
Cheers,
Terry
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