SQL REMOTE connection is EXTREMELY slow

Question

I've set up a msSQL remote connection on a GoDaddy shared hosting account (known as Direct Database Access).

I'm doing some javascript/HTML/css work on the site and don't need/want to have to download/manage a separate database.

The remote connection works and the pages load as expected. However, each time I request a DB driven page in my browser it takes about 2-4 minutes before the page is sent/downloaded.

Could this be a limitation set by godaddy to discourage connecting to the database remotely?

Is there anyway to set up a "proxy" on the production server to get the query results?

Are there any alternative methods for connecting to the DB you could suggest?

Should I just stop whining about it and setup a local copy of the database?

Answer 1

I always like to develop with a local copy of the db if possible, both for speed of development, and to avoid impacting others if one of my queries run awry.

I would recommend you install the free SQL Server 2008 Express edition and set up a local copy of the database.