Re: Using MySQL as the backend
- From: Gareth <nah>
- Date: Wed, 09 Nov 2005 10:37:39 -0600
I'm not an expert (or anywhere close) but, from reading your post I get the impression you're not familiar with the concept of a server DB. I think some background might help you - forgive me if you already know all this.
Access (and indeed its OpenOffice equivalent BASE) are filebased databases (although BASE is capable of other things besides). The user doesn't need to have Access installed to access the database, rather they just need to have the MS Jet engine (which comes with MS Office 2000 and greater) installed.
It's this engine that does all the work. And because it's filebased - rather than server based - all the work is done on the user's machine. Therefore if you're connecting over a WAN to the DB file there's a fair amount of traffic between the file and the user's machine while the Jet engine runs the query.
A server based database on the other hand (e.g. mySQL, MS SQL Server, Oracle) does all the work on the server. The user's machine will pass a query to the server, which will do the grunt work locally and then pass the query results back to the machine. There's far less traffic - just a bit of authentication, handshaking, passing the query and getting the recordset back. Hence, you're right, over a WAN this will be far, far quicker than Access (or any filebased database).
But... this is a whole new world. You need to have a server. You need to be able to back up your server -- it's no longer a simple file (or few files). You need to know that your server is spec'd sufficiently to handle the workload. You need to make sure your SQL is syntactically correct for MySQL. Most of Access SQL will be but you will likely find differences with JOINS, Dates or maybe concatenating strings - I haven't used mySQL much.
The two files you have downloaded will help you set up a mySQL database but it's nowhere near as simple as setting up an Access database. I suggest you get your hands on a book or study an online tutorial (there are plenty) in order to get to grips with it.
HTH, Gareth
Nyla K wrote:
I'm not sure where to go to pose this question, but I hope that someone can point me in the right direction. (I've e-mailed the support group at MySQL, but I haven't received a response.)
I read that using MySQL as the backend will greatly improve the speed in a WAN environment. I've downloaded the MySQL Server 4.1 and I can't seem to install the server or maybe I have it installed but I just don't know how to open the program. The only options I have after the download is MySQL Command Line Client and MySQL Server Instance Configuration Wizard. What do I do and where do I go from here? This is my first time using MySQL and I'm completely confused.
ANY help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Nyla
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