Connecting from a remote UNIX box with PHP to a remote Windows Access database

Xanthis

We just be confronted by a client to build a form script that populates an Acccess database in their facility. The PHP script runs on our box which is FreeBSD which attempts to populate an Access database remotely hosted elsewhere.

I could not locate how to make a remote connection via ODBC or whether this is even possible unless the Access database runs on the same network as the web server LAN.

Any ideas?

edwardsbc

I suggest you search this forum, but to date I have NOT found a way to remotely access 'Access' DBs. Once, long ago, I wrote a script which ran on the same machine as the Access DB (with a web server). The script was sort of a generalize DB access script which I could call from the 'real' web server to fetch results. It was slow, but it worked. But don't ask me to post the code (I don't have it or own it).

If you do find a way to remotely access MDBs, please post it here.

Xanthis

Well, I tried locating (searching) as noted in my last post came up with nothing. What I did find was articles on running on the remote server with Access installed and then running PHP with special extensions installed.

The issue I have is not having to deal with configuration of any server, just a straight connection like PHP <-> MySQL. . .

Sxooter

Access isn't built for this kind of thing. It's not safe for parallel updates, and it's not designed for the kind of load a BSD box could easily chuck at it.

Have them install a real database, like interbase, mysql or MS SQL Server.

Then their users can access their data with odbc AND be reasonably certain it will be up and running each morning when they come in.