[fanbanlo]

I am planning to update a company database structure. Currently they are using good old dos Dbase... I am thinking of Ms Acess + mySQL via ODBC to provide user-friendly interface and powerful SQL power. Is this a good choice?

On the server side... would Windows be better? or Linux? If Cost is not too much of an issue? I am not too familiar with Linux and I'm afraid of missing drivers...

The company that uses this db is very small, maybe up to 5 clients (running Windows) at max. Very little queue needed. What kind of hardware do I need for the server?
- Do I need Xero? Opteron? is ECC important? if not, can cheaper desktop CPU (i.e. Pentium or AlthonXP) handle the job?
- Do I need RAID1 for security reason?
- For RAM, what's more important, speed (DDR400?) vs size (512MB? a few GB?)?

Would MSAccess be power enough to compile a report on some basic stats, such as activities on the past week/month/year?

MsAccess just comes to my mind as user-friendly and easiest to implement frontend that can create beautiful form to add/get entry. My next choice would be writing my own JAVA program via MySQL Connector/J. This will take much longer I suppose...

Please reply comments, things I should look into, and pitfall I might get in.

Thank you in advance, for your valuable experiences and feedback!

lastly, is mySQL a good choice?

[fanbanlo]

am I not suppose to do "topposting" on usenet? This word is new for me... I
always post on the top. I use Outlook Express.

I think I'm going to try Libranet. http://www.libranet.com/
Base on Debian, but with improved installation and good overall rating in
reviews. And it is from Canada~ yeah. I'm from Canada.

Thanks for everything~




"Andreas Paasch" <Andreas@Paasch.Net> wrote in message
news:letBb.56425$jf4.3206038@news000.worldonline.d k...
> fanbanlo wrote:
>
> > which linux Distributions would you recommend?
> >
> >
>
> Topposting, as we do isn't that well seen in usenet, but what the heck ;-)
>
> Now, I only know one, Mandrake, the one I use.
>
> There are several others out there, so you have to make the pick.
>
> I was recommended mandrake a year back for a newbie and I'm not
> disappointed, had a lot to learn and still have.
>
> Others are Redhat, Suse, Debian, Slackware, to mention some.
>
> Suse, redhat and mandrake are good for newbies, debian requires some more
> knowledge as far as I know and slackware is the creme de la creme.
>
> Suse is german based, redhat US based and Mandrake based in france, I
don't
> know about the other two.
>
> As I do work with mandrake and have gotten used to it, I recommend
mandrake
> 9.2 - latest version.
>
> /Andreas
>
> > "Andreas Paasch" <Andreas@Paasch.Net> wrote in message
> > newsXsBb.56420$jf4.3205581@news000.worldonline.d k...
> >> fanbanlo wrote:
> >>
> >> > found a great site:
> > http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/backend/databases/
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >> And google.com will give you more hits then you can manage to read over
> >> x-mas ;-)
> >>
> >> Before you start everything ... a good thing to do is to sit down with
> >> pen and paper and describe as good as possible the needs, it will save
> >> you hours later on.
> >>
> >> Good luck,
> >>
> >> Andreas
> >>
> >> >
> >> > "fanbanlo" <fanbanlo@canada.ca> wrote in message
> >> > news:FpsBb.45367$bC.32877@clgrps13...
> >> >> a million thanks for your reply.
> >> >> I hope I can learn how to make this LAMP this Christmas.
> >> >>
> >> >> You said 233Mhz, now 2Ghz?? haha, I really have a 233 lying
arround,
> >> >> I
> >> > will
> >> >> play with it as the server first.
> >> >>
> >> >> Thanks for the sites, I've read most of them but they don't apply to
> >> >> my specific situation.
> >> >> Are there sites that teach ppl LAMP?
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> "Andreas Paasch" <Andreas@Paasch.Net> wrote in message
> >> >> news:MdsBb.56403$jf4.3203343@news000.worldonline.d k...
> >> >> > Andreas Paasch wrote:
> >> >> >
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > I would create the whole thing with LAMP.
> >> >> > > Get a regular computer about 2Ghz or a bit more, toss in two
> >> > harddrives,
> >> >> > > one for main use and the other to run a backup of the database
> >> >> > > from
> >> >> mysql.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Then I would setup apache to only server intranet and thus
> > preventing
> >> >> > > outside access. On linux I would even add the firewall and close
> > port
> >> > 80
> >> >> > > for outside access .. security in place.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > With a load that low, a regular machine will surely do fine
> >> >> > > enough.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Do it all in PHP and just create some default websites based on
> > forms
> >> >> with
> >> >> > > sessions.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Not that big a thing to do, rather relatively easy.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > Those are my thoughts, others may disagree.
> >> >> > >
> >> >> > > /Andreas
> >> >> > >
> >> >> >
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Sorry, I wanted to add two 120GB disks and 512MB ram would on
linux
> >> > surely
> >> >> > be enough.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > In time, you can always write a shellscript to backup older data
> >> >> > from
> >> >> mysql
> >> >> > and put on the backup disk ...
> >> >> >
> >> >> > /Andreas
> >> >> > --
> >> >> > Registeret Linux user #292411
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Registeret Linux user #292411
>
> --
> Registeret Linux user #292411