Hello Guys,

I have a webserver (vps) on the web. It runs linux & supports php & mysql. I develope programs in vb.net 2008.

Now I need to develope an customer management application in vb.net. This program will keep a track of customers, their details, which products they have subscribed to, invoice and other information. But I want this program to be access an online db so that it can be used from anywhere by more than one person.

I have done some work on mysql & vb.net. I have a mysql connector which connects to my db on web server and thru sql it exchanges data.

I have a few queries and would be grateful if anyone could help me out :

- Can another program (or third party antivirus/firewall) catch my connection string? I dont want security to be compromised.

- The db may contain a few thousand records. So it is okay if i pass sql query and get all records and keep them in memory. This way program need not hit the database everytime. ?

- How can I show progress bar if I am reading from db because with sql statement entire contents are thrown at one go (I think)?

- If I want to take backup and view content offline (incase I have net issues) How can I do that ? I think I can take backup but how to view that data offline ?

- Any precautions or measures I should take to ensure data integrity ?

Will be glad if anyone points me in the right direction ?

[Don't wanna use php, this app should be binded to specific pc's]

Cheers,
JG