After Publishing Access 2010 What's Next?

[Learn2010]

I work for a large company and am currently in the midst of preparing an Access 2010 database to publish to the web via SharePoint’s Access Services. Some of the information concerning Access 2010 and SharePoint has been changing as we go. I would like to get some clarity on some issues.
I am not privy to a lot of information in this project other than the preparation of the database. But, there are some things I need to know. After publishing to the web:
1) Can anyone view the database?
2) Is the database always going to be a part of your SharePoint program?
3) I have seen groups that advertise that they host Access 2010 databases. These groups provide unlimited users. My assumption is that you can view it but you have to have permission to add or edit data, and view and print reports. Is this the case?
4) If this is the case, when you purchase SharePoint Server 2010, Enterprise Edition, do you get a limited number of licenses? If so, is that a bargaining point in the pricing?

 

[Banana]

1) If they have the permission to log in to that site, yes. You're using SharePoint security now.

2) I'm not sure what the question is about. Elaborate?

3) I can't answer that as it depends on how the service is licensing. You'll have to talk to the provider directly.

4) Access Services is an Enterprise feature, meaning it requires an Enterprise CAL on either per-user or per-workstation basis. You can have as many seats/workstation as you are willing to pay for it and have hardware for it.

 

[Learn2010]

2) Disregard it. I understand the concept now.
3) Can you publish the database and allow anyone to view it? For example, I am selling a product. I want people to see the advertising for the product. Once they buy, they can now have predesigned permissions, that is, they can now have access to other parts of the database.

 

[Banana]

The concept you're looking for is "Anonymous Access", I think? Anonymous Access isn't officially supported but not also actively blocked - there are few issues that appears when we turn on anonymous access. I think it may work OK if you only need read-only access for anonymous users (e.g. anyone) but you can't create a form that can be entered/edited by anonymous users, at least not without a bunch of errors.

For something more like subscription, you'll need to talk to Microsoft about that - this all depends on how your ShraePoint installation is licensed and licensing are customized to each customizer so the best answer is to talk with them and make sure you have the licensing in place to support your scenario.

 

[Learn2010]

Thanks for all your help.