SQL Database on Local or Hosted Web server?   

I want to create an application using sql server which would be mostly used 
on a local server, however a part of the application requires inputs from 
users through the web. I am wondering:

1. Should the database reside on the local or hosted web server? If on the 
local server, would this be too slow for web users? or vice versa?
2. Can the full database or parts of the database be replicated in both 
places? Is this even possible with sql express?
3. Is it possible just to have a front end on the hosted web server and have 
the transactions posted back to the database? would this be too slow?

Can anyone point me to any relevant articles, examples or books ? I have 
searched quite extensively but haven't found anything concrete on this 
subject.

Thanks,
Peter

date: Fri, 15 Aug 2008 19:27:58 -0400   author:   Peter

Re: SQL Database on Local or Hosted Web server?   

According to your comment, your users are going to reach to your database 
mostly from your local network. So it seems that it would be better to keep 
your database on a decent (by saying this I mean that a server can handle 
the workload) server in your LAN.

Say you have 10 people to connect to your SQL Server application and 7 of 
them are from your LAN and the others are from WAN. So, your priority is 
your LAN users. You should satisfy them first and I don't think your WAN 
users will complain if their connection speed is enough for the workload and 
if your SQL Server server can handle the requests.

In case you want to host your database on a web server, it would depend on 
the server that your database is hosted. For example, if your database was 
hosted on a dedicated server particularly for you, then you could configure 
your SQL Server as you wish. And a SQL Server 2005 Express Edition instance 
can be used as a Subscriber in a Replication topology. So you can use it in 
your Replication solution.

-- 
Ekrem Önsoy




"Peter"  wrote in message 
news:CF57E4FF-4BCF-4FB7-B9E8-C879FCE7D88C@microsoft.com...
>I want to create an application using sql server which would be mostly used 
>on a local server, however a part of the application requires inputs from 
>users through the web. I am wondering:
>
> 1. Should the database reside on the local or hosted web server? If on the 
> local server, would this be too slow for web users? or vice versa?
> 2. Can the full database or parts of the database be replicated in both 
> places? Is this even possible with sql express?
> 3. Is it possible just to have a front end on the hosted web server and 
> have the transactions posted back to the database? would this be too slow?
>
> Can anyone point me to any relevant articles, examples or books ? I have 
> searched quite extensively but haven't found anything concrete on this 
> subject.
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
>

date: Sat, 16 Aug 2008 23:32:03 +0300   author:   Ekrem Önsoy