Software design problem

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Software design problem

Hi all,
I have an application which will be distributed to a large number of people within my company. I need to have some central data store for this application and dont have the budget for SQL server or anything like this. I noticed that there is a thing called a Local Database in VS2008... will this be suitable for a central data store? the volume of data is not large

thanks!

Note:
I do not have a server to host it on, This is not my choice, its just a condition i have to work under. The best i can get is space on the shared drive

+3 A:

Why not SQL Server Express? It's free and fully featured.

Hugo Riley 2010-08-25 05:24:46

http://www.microsoft.com/express/database/

Nate Heinrich 2010-08-25 05:25:13

+1 My favourite price ever!

Will A 2010-08-25 05:26:22

The database will be hosted on a shared drive without SQL express installed. Will this still work? if so, can you point me to somewhere that i can learn more?

TerrorAustralis 2010-08-25 05:26:49

If you want concurrency issues and/or (potential) database corruption, go for the shared drive approach with something like Access - if you're after a decent solution then SQL Server Express will be ideal.

Will A 2010-08-25 05:28:43

@TerrorAustralis: Shared file for multiple users will get you only problems (file locking, permissions...). Do it right immediately and install SQL express.

Hugo Riley 2010-08-25 05:30:28

I guess there is no shared file workaround then :( i'll have the neccessary arguments with the DBAs etc etc to see if i can get an instance installed

TerrorAustralis 2010-08-25 05:32:07

+7 A:

MySQL is a free, open source database that you can use as well.

Dave White 2010-08-25 05:31:25

+1 A:

If you have to use a file share system I would use an Access database. But there is a good chance you will experience some kinds of file corruption at some stage, and if you have many concurrent users untold bad stuff could happen. Basically a file share database works well for one user on a local PC and that's about it.

Craig 2010-08-25 05:35:05

+1 A:

There is also Postgres, its a bit more robust than MySQL and is free just the same.

System.data.sqlite is a decent option as well for use with Visual Studio, it is also free (but may not be the best option for a large number of clients, although the setup would be easiest by far).

MaQleod 2010-08-25 06:34:52

+1 A:

Have you got access to a Web Server at your company.

If the clients only need to read the data you could just serve up an xml file from a well known URL.

James Anderson 2010-08-25 06:38:34

I may be able to pull off a webservice. Only cos that is not under the control of our political DBAs :) thank you all for your answers!

TerrorAustralis 2010-08-25 06:42:30

ansaurus

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