Router USB running Access (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter pekajo
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I'm going to express doubt. Not certainty of failure but doubt of success.
Are you talking thumb drive or external USB-connected hard disk? One thing for sure is that you would have to have a reliable URS path for that USB device. If it is a removable device, you probably will always have to run it from the slot that was in use when the original installation took place; changing connections would probably bollix up all of the linkages. In order to make Access run off of a router, you have to take into account whether the registry links to the other separate modules of Access (like the Ace DB engine and the reference libraries) are consistently linked.
In theory, if you installed Access as an original installation to a disk-like device (I'm counting rotating and solid state equally here), it might be possible. But the problem is likely to be the "baggage" that goes with such an installation. For instance, I don't think you can easily make a copy of the disk installation and make it work very easily. Not all files installed by Access go in .Windows.System32 or .Windows.System folders. Some will go in .ProgramFiles, for example.
You probably would also want to use a fast USB circuit so you could use USB 3.0 standards. USB 2.0 is far slower regardless of the physical medium.
Peter, I don't want to rain on your parade because I know better than to say this is impossible. But I would rate this as an extremely difficult goal to reach. In terms of software engineering, I would count this as probably requiring a few days of installation prep and at least two full weeks of hard testing with things like Application Object and OLE testing. In engineering terms, this would class as a high-risk project with high risk of failure.
Are you talking thumb drive or external USB-connected hard disk? One thing for sure is that you would have to have a reliable URS path for that USB device. If it is a removable device, you probably will always have to run it from the slot that was in use when the original installation took place; changing connections would probably bollix up all of the linkages. In order to make Access run off of a router, you have to take into account whether the registry links to the other separate modules of Access (like the Ace DB engine and the reference libraries) are consistently linked.
In theory, if you installed Access as an original installation to a disk-like device (I'm counting rotating and solid state equally here), it might be possible. But the problem is likely to be the "baggage" that goes with such an installation. For instance, I don't think you can easily make a copy of the disk installation and make it work very easily. Not all files installed by Access go in .Windows.System32 or .Windows.System folders. Some will go in .ProgramFiles, for example.
You probably would also want to use a fast USB circuit so you could use USB 3.0 standards. USB 2.0 is far slower regardless of the physical medium.
Peter, I don't want to rain on your parade because I know better than to say this is impossible. But I would rate this as an extremely difficult goal to reach. In terms of software engineering, I would count this as probably requiring a few days of installation prep and at least two full weeks of hard testing with things like Application Object and OLE testing. In engineering terms, this would class as a high-risk project with high risk of failure.
Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply. I may have not made myself clear. I plan on putting the data on USB router and having clients on the PC's.
It seems to be working OK on my home network but only have one PC so will need to try on a bigger network.
Peter
Thanks for the quick reply. I may have not made myself clear. I plan on putting the data on USB router and having clients on the PC's.
It seems to be working OK on my home network but only have one PC so will need to try on a bigger network.
Peter
In theory this works. In practice however, you might run into some of the following issues.
1.) The bandwidth of the USB port or device is limited and causes performance problems.
2.) The CPU and particularly RAM of routers is limited. Small RAM leads to less data being cached in RAM and thus aggravating problem1.)
3.) NetBIOS shares of routers are usually served by the Samba implementation of NetBIOS, which used to be somewhat tricky to configure for use with multi-user Access databases. (I've got no current experience with this.)
Gasman
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You would need to map the USB drive in Windows, or at least give the correct UNC path?
I have done the same with a NAS box, and have a 250 GB hard disk hanging off mine.
For that I had to load a driver in Linux and create a mount point for it. Then amend the smb.conf file to expose the new mount point.
However that is merely for my personal use as well.
I have done the same with a NAS box, and have a 250 GB hard disk hanging off mine.
For that I had to load a driver in Linux and create a mount point for it. Then amend the smb.conf file to expose the new mount point.
However that is merely for my personal use as well.
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Oh, shucks, may have misinterpreted your intent.
If you are going THROUGH a router but the member PCs are connected using a router to build a localized LAN, the issue will be speed of the network. The question will be on which device is the back-end file placed? If that is actually just a PC acting as though it were a host, that should work OK from a tech viewpoint. Even if the device of residence is a network-attached-storage device, it can work. You just have to assure that the mapping stays consistent.
If you are going THROUGH a router but the member PCs are connected using a router to build a localized LAN, the issue will be speed of the network. The question will be on which device is the back-end file placed? If that is actually just a PC acting as though it were a host, that should work OK from a tech viewpoint. Even if the device of residence is a network-attached-storage device, it can work. You just have to assure that the mapping stays consistent.
ADIGA88
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I want to mention here the security aspect of this idea, in my opinion, it's not secure to connect your storage to your router, because your router usually is controlled by your service provider and there is a lot of examples of misconfiguration leading to easy access to your router (leading to your storage) from the wan side.
unless you have your own router or figure out how to disable the ISP control on your router it's not a good idea.
unless you have your own router or figure out how to disable the ISP control on your router it's not a good idea.
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