Access Programs

I develop MS Access progams for single workstations.  I would like to migrate the table for some of my projects to Cloud so that they may be accessed from different laptops.  How do I go about migrating the tables to Cloud?

First migrate your application to something other than the cloud.  IE., migrate to SQL first.  The steps from SQL to "the cloud" are simpler.  You will find yourself making structural changes to the applications.  Access has the tendency to "pull everything local" to perform its queries.  Rewriting things to run under SQL will get you used to letting a server do your work.

My major recommendation:  Given the poor performance of Access, under load, why tempt fate with a cloud based solution?

Um, are you merely interested in allowing multiple clients to make changes to the same data? This would mean you'd want to centralize the access database on some server (or network share) and have your programs connect to it instead of a local instance.

Here's how to do it in a few simple steps:

1. Burn a copy of your access database to a CD. Use a DVD-ROM if it's really big.
2. Put CD in a blender or food processor grinding it until the CD is in small dust-like particles.
3. Outside, scooping a handful at a time, blow gently on the particles in an upward direction.

It may take a day or two for the partials to seed but your Access database will be in the cloud before you know it.

Or you could search the web for "Migrating Access Database to the cloud".

It looks like you can migrate the data directly to SQL Azure and then use access as the front end for SQL Azure.

Here's a couple of blog posts:

Move the data: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sqlazure/archive/2010/08/12/10049469.aspx

Connect Access: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-access/archive/2010/06/07/access-2010-and-sql-azure.aspx

Keep in mind that this is only migrating the data. Access remains the front end and business logic. However, I think that something like SQL Azure is probably cost prohibitive. A better bet would probably be to host your own SQL Server and use the upsize wizard.

@DeathByVisualStudio: +1 But won't this have an impact on global warming?

@MasterPie: Oh snap! What was I thinking?!?!? Clarification: Unless you live in the Netherlands (or wherever Maddus lives) please follow the blog posts.