Re: file server database & client server
Date: 24 Jun 2002 01:10:41 -0700
Message-ID: <39bb2c10.0206240010.10fd9be1_at_posting.google.com>
kamur_at_lycos.com (Kumar) wrote in message news:<7517e3e1.0206231359.4f0936a1_at_posting.google.com>...
> Hello,
>
> Bear with this silly question..am a newbie to database world..
>
> I would like to know the differences betwee file server based
> databases and
> client server based databases? Would be great if some examples also
> are provided for each..
>
> Specifically, is Ms access database file server databae ?
>
> appreciate your responses!
> Kamur
Kamur,
Let's say you have data residing on a central computer.
If there is a Database Management System running on that central computer controlling access to your data and executing queries for one or more users, the central computer acts as a database server. Users connect to the DBMS using a client program running on their own computers.
If there is no DBMS running on the central computer, it allows access to your data like any file server would. Users (or the programs they use) obtain a copy of the data files for procesing on their own computers.
With a client server database, only queries (maybe a dozen lines of text) and query results (maybe the data concerning one single customer) get transferred between database and users. With a file server database, since all processing is done at the user side, much more data gets transferred:
- full indexes for the tables involved in a particular query - all data in those tables - maybe all tables and indexes that are not involved in thatparticular query, since the file server has only one way to respond to requests:
You want a file, you get a file;
You want some data within a file, you get the full file.
MS-Access is a file server database: other users cannot connect to the copy that is running on your computer. MS-Access may act as a client for server databases, like IBM DB2, Oracle, MS-SQLServer. Received on Mon Jun 24 2002 - 10:10:41 CEST