PCAnywhere is acceptable, if somewhat sluggish response depending on
your connection method. VPN connection is not recommended. Opening the
Access database over a remote connection will likely lead to
corruption of your database.
IIRC, PCAnywhere allows you to designate your locally-connected
printer as the printer for your host computer.
In a file server system, the server acts like a remote hard disk, and
all the computing power is handled by the computer that you are
sitting at. All the "guts" of the database analysis pass over the
network in "raw" format. In a client server system, there is an active
component on the server that connects to the database. Your local
computer sends requests to that active component on the server, which
acts upon the request, and sends the results back to the client. Only
requests and results pass over the network.
In a file-server system, users have direct access to the file system,
and can copy the database to their own computer, and play with it
outside your desired environment. In a client server system, they are
prevented from having direct access to the database files.
In a file-server system, a knowledgeable person could take your Access
database file, and hack away at it to their hearts content.
The security system in Jet/Access is strong enough to keep everyday
users from mucking with your database. It is not strong enough to keep
out a determined hacker.
I was either going to use PcAnywhere, or a VPN connection. If PcAnywhere over
the phone line, then performance will be throttled by being over phone.
Possibly PcAnywhere (or remote desktop, or VNC) thru VPN/Internet DSL
connection. Where they would be actually using a "local" computer.
Since this all in the beginning stages, I'm not really sure what we're going to
do. For instance, I'm not sure how they would be able to print a report if
connecting to a "local" computer, etc.......I'm not even sure if they will need
to print, or just to take a quick glance to see what the status is.
Not sure what you mean by file/server vs client/server, can you elaborate on
that a little?
Thanks
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http://www.geocities.com/jacksonmacd/ for info on MS Access security