How woul be the best solution for publishing my database on network?

[myuser]

Hello
I have a database which would be used by 15 users via network.
Unfortunately network admin has disabled sharing system on all domain computers. There is just one pc in the network which all users of this department (15 users) could share files with it.
USB drives are also disabled except just the one pc I mentioned above ( the pc of secretary)
What would be the solution for me?
If I make a backend and frontend, then I put backend on secretary's PC it would not be safe. What about I put backend with password protected? Wouldn't it possible to take a copy by someone and see the data in it? (maybe by third party applications which hack passwords) Or its safe?
If I put the file on secretary's PC, what kind of share should I set? read only or full control?
And another question is that could I put backend on my own PC and use permission to users? If so, which level of permissions? Will frontend file link to the backend?


Many thanks in advance for your reply

 

[CJ_London]

not a good idea to put it on the secretaries pc - what if she decides to switch it off or reboot, let alone all the other issues.

To clarify, are you saying you have a network of 15 pc's, but no server used by everybody?

 

[myuser]

not a good idea to put it on the secretaries pc - what if she decides to switch it off or reboot, let alone all the other issues.

To clarify, are you saying you have a network of 15 pc's, but no server used by everybody?

Yes CJ_London, no file server there is. So we should use the only computer with shared enabled for our department.

 

[CJ_London]

In that case, it doesn't sound like you have a choice - can your company not at least stretch to a spare pc to act as a server? tho' still not ideal since it won't be optimised for frequent access. Even if they can, much the same issues will exist.

Is your network hardwired or wireless? better to be hardwired.

If I make a backend and frontend, then I put backend on secretary's PC it would not be safe.

Correct - secretary may reboot whilst the db is being updated, leading to corruption and someone may still copy the db (it helps if usb sticks are disabled but that won't stop someone zipping the db and emailing it!)

What about I put backend with password protected?

worth doing - you'll need to relink and provide password in front end

Wouldn't it possible to take a copy by someone and see the data in it? (maybe by third party applications which hack passwords) Or its safe?

yes, password protection in 2007 and later has higher encryption levels and you go for say 24 characters. Doesn't stop someone taking a copy - for this enterprise level protecting you need to consider SQL server or equivalent.

If I put the file on secretary's PC, what kind of share should I set? read only or full control?

they will need full read/write access

And another question is that could I put backend on my own PC and use permission to users?

thought you said only secretary pc was accessable by all

If so, which level of permissions?

read/write as before

Will frontend file link to the backend?

don't understand the question

One of your issues may be performance, with that number of users and without a file server you may find the system is slow. If that is the case, consider using a .mdb back end - you can user the user security which may give you some comfort (removed from 2007 onwards) and you have the option of using replication (but only recommend if you're network is hardwired) - I used that technique about 10 years ago when users had laptops and regularly worked from home - they would come into the office and synchronise the laptop BE with the master BE.

The other thing you need to consider is backup - does your network admin back up the data on a regular basis? If not, you'll need to create your own protocols to do this.

 

[myuser]

thought you said only secretary pc was accessable by all

don't understand the question

Thank you for you time and very good answering.

well, I am not good at network issues, When I right click on each folder on my computer, there is not a "share" tab but there is a "security" tab which I could find the name of all domain users in it and give them permission (read/write,...)

Could it be used to make my file accessible without sharing?

 

[CJ_London]

Could it be used to make my file accessible without sharing?

No - if you make it accessible, it is being shared!

Without knowing anything about your network setup (other than the basics already discussed) I cannot make any recommendations. I suggest you discuss the situation with your network admin people for their recommendations.

The sort of things you need to discuss with them include:

• Restricting access to only those who need to use the DB
• The need for data backup etc
• Your concerns about data security - file copying, unauthorised access etc
• Maintaining accessibility to the back end - i.e. protection against the user who is hosting the back end from rebooting etc.