advice on sycronistation (1 Viewer)

dent

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Please can anyone give me some advice on sycronisation. The scenario is this. I have created a database to hold records of patients. The database will be used by 2 people in different locations on seperate machines. Periodically I would like to sycronise the records on both machines so that all the reords are the same on each database. The machines are not networked or connected in any way. I had thought that a copy of one database can be burnt to a disc and imported to the other database by using import and importing everything! Would this work or will it cause problems. I have not split the database or created a master copy as yet. Eventually there will be thousands of records held and I hope to link the 2 machines in some way, over the web some how. Your advice would be much appreciated before I mess up completley. :(
 

RuralGuy

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I believe you will need to look into replication. It is in the help system and you can search in this forum.
 

dent

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Thanks for the reply Rural, I have looked at the posts and help files, but still unsure if its the right way to go with this. Do I split the Db into front end and back end first? When syncronising do the machines need to be connected to sync or can a disc be burnt with the front ends of the lap tops etc. Just dont want to make a mistake now.
 

dent

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To explain further; I have an ID field in my tables that increments sequentialy by access, as I understand it Access changes this field to random numbers. My queries etc use this field to run, will these queries still work after replication? or will i have to change everything? :confused:
 

RuralGuy

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I'm sorry dent, but I simply don't know enough about replications to answer your questions. I based my answer on your physical requirements. I believe MitchKa has some thoughts on the subject.
 

dent

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Thanks for that RG i will check it out :)
 

Pat Hartman

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Turning a database into a replica master will change ALL autonumbers to random rather than increment. It doesn't change existing values. It only changes how new ones are assigned. People frequently use autonumbers as visible IDs such as StudentID or CustomerID and the autonumbers actually show up on forms or printed records. The problem that arises is that autonumbers assigned by the random method can be very large positive numbers or very small negative numbers. I don't think you want a CustomerID of -4679 if you are showing this value to the customer. That means that you will need to switch to generating your own values. BUT, to make this work in a replica set, you need to add an additional field to each table to identify which replica generated the number. So when two identical values are generated by the two copies of the database, they can be merged into the same database because the primary key is now replica1 + 12345 and replica2 + 12345 so there is no conflict.
 

dent

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Thanks Pat :) , I think I am beginning to understand the principle behind all this. So to continue further, I split My Db into front end and back end yesterday and replicated the front end to go on a laptop. However when it came to adding records to the front end on the laptop an error messgae appeared ' can't find mdb be and the path to it on my desktop! I presume I have to replicate the back end and copy the back end replica to the laptop as well so records can be written to it. I thought that the point of splitting a Db was to prevent others changing the design and structure of the Db, if both front and back ends are on the laptop then surely changes can be made to the design. I had presumed that just the front end would need to be given to the laptop. Am I doing the split wrong? Ah ha :rolleyes: , you cant make changes to a replica! I think. Your guideance would be most appreciated.
 

dent

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This is driving me crazy!! all I want is a front end on 2 laptops that are not connected in any way to each other or the desktop and periodically to sync with the master on a desktop. I had hoped to do this with small usb flash drive and copy the front end on the laptops to the drive, then connect the flash drive to the desktop and sync with the master on the DT and then copy back to the laptops. I hope i am explaining this properly? Random ID's are not a problem as clients wont see them. I have split the Db and created a master copy on the DTop pc. Help!!!!
 
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Rich

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If you split the db then the tables have to be accessible, by keeping them on the desktop they aren't,also be prepared for the autonumbers to display as scientific
 

Pat Hartman

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Both the fe and be must be on the laptop in your scenario. Normally the be would be on a server and shared by all but if the laptops are not connected to a common network, there is no way they can share a common be. That is why you are investigating replication.

With a split fe/be, the fe is not what needs to be replicated, it is the be that needs to be replicated. The be is where the data is added and changed and that is what needs to be synchronized between the two laptops.

The reason for keeping the fe separate is so that it can easily be replaced should changes be required. It would not be replicated. It would be replaced entirely.
 
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dent

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Thank you Pat and Rich for your help. What I have done is copy both FE & BE to a flash drive which i will place on the lap tops, once records are added on the laptops i will then hopefully sync back to the desktop. I think this is what you are trying to instruct me on.?
 
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Rich

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Why didn't you use the replication manager along with my briefcase?
 

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