Hello,
At the moment I am doing some research on a new application that I am going to develop and I have encountered 2 challenges, related to databases.
I am not a very experienced programmer but I can get things up and running all though it takes me longer then I expected.
Challenge #1:
My app will pull data from several databases. I prefer to have these databases on the user's machine for instant access using MSSQL Express and I would like to
have these databases protected. I am using .mdf files, meaning I am unable to protect them according to several articles I have read on the internet.
The reason I would like to use .mdf files is that I can copy data from Excel sheets and paste them into the database tables; quick and easy. If I have to guess
the amount of records, it is around the 120.000 - 125.000 mark at the moment.
It has been suggested to have these databases on a webserver, that way my databases are protected (read only for users). I have done some tests, it is working
but it is not ticking all the boxes; every time a new client is using my app I need to grant access to the databases on the server manually by adding their IP
address. This is annoying when someone is on a dynamic IP. This could be solved by adding the wildcard %.%.%.% granting access to everyone but this is not
recommended of course.
The other box that is not ticked; my app is useless with the web based database configuration when internet is not available to the user.
Challenge #2:
When used in a company with several users, my app requires to have access to shared data such as settings and templates and I am not sure what the best solution
is to achieve this. I will advise that company to have an admin to control the settings of my app for the users to use. In my app it is a simple boolean, nothing special.
Access to a database on a company's server requires the administrator to change firewall and protocol settings, so I am told. I am not overly concerned about
protecting this database as there is no data in there that should be protected, perhaps the templates.
I am considering using text files or html files. If needed the administrator could easily change the directory permissions to read only for users and read write
of the admin of my app.
If someone is able to advise me on these challenges, that would be much appreciated.
At the moment I am doing some research on a new application that I am going to develop and I have encountered 2 challenges, related to databases.
I am not a very experienced programmer but I can get things up and running all though it takes me longer then I expected.
Challenge #1:
My app will pull data from several databases. I prefer to have these databases on the user's machine for instant access using MSSQL Express and I would like to
have these databases protected. I am using .mdf files, meaning I am unable to protect them according to several articles I have read on the internet.
The reason I would like to use .mdf files is that I can copy data from Excel sheets and paste them into the database tables; quick and easy. If I have to guess
the amount of records, it is around the 120.000 - 125.000 mark at the moment.
It has been suggested to have these databases on a webserver, that way my databases are protected (read only for users). I have done some tests, it is working
but it is not ticking all the boxes; every time a new client is using my app I need to grant access to the databases on the server manually by adding their IP
address. This is annoying when someone is on a dynamic IP. This could be solved by adding the wildcard %.%.%.% granting access to everyone but this is not
recommended of course.
The other box that is not ticked; my app is useless with the web based database configuration when internet is not available to the user.
Challenge #2:
When used in a company with several users, my app requires to have access to shared data such as settings and templates and I am not sure what the best solution
is to achieve this. I will advise that company to have an admin to control the settings of my app for the users to use. In my app it is a simple boolean, nothing special.
Access to a database on a company's server requires the administrator to change firewall and protocol settings, so I am told. I am not overly concerned about
protecting this database as there is no data in there that should be protected, perhaps the templates.
I am considering using text files or html files. If needed the administrator could easily change the directory permissions to read only for users and read write
of the admin of my app.
If someone is able to advise me on these challenges, that would be much appreciated.
