RE: ISP Hosted database

Vic,
 
Q1.  Do you have a virtual host with your own ip address?
 
  If so, check with your ISP to see what they can provide in the way of "per
virtual host" firewalling and port forwarding.
 
Q2.  Have you considered eliminating the client Access connection and
providing a PHP to http server interface on your host?
 
  This would probably mean that you'd have to get into the business of
providing the local tools that the end users (Show Secretaries) would
normally implement for their own use.  But if the Show Secretaries are not
computer/Access proficient, you might be better off providing a functional
interface than an Access infrastructure.  This approach would use the normal
port 80 (http://) interface that the ISP is set up for.  You would have to
implement your own security with passwords in the PHP interface.  For those
Show Secretaries who are computer development savvy, I think there are ways
to access data via the port 80 type of interface (e.g. downloads).
 
My level of experience in how to provide this kind of data over a port 80
interface is limited to providing web pages via PHP code interfaced to
Apache so some of my assumptions may be off base for your situation.
 
Good luck and regards.
 
 

Lawson
[email protected]
+1(480)308-0641 (Voice)
+1(602)996-0376 (Fax)
  

-----Original Message-----
From: Vic Spainhower [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 4:11 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: ISP Hosted database


Hello,
 
I don't know if this is a proper question for this list but I do know there
are some very knowledgable people here who will be able to send me in the
right direction or inform me that I'm off base.
 
I've built a web site for receiving entries for shows (type of show doesn't
matter could be horse, dog, cat, car etc.) . These show entries are stored
in a MySQL database. When an entry is received the information is not only
captured in the MySQL database but it is also emailed to the Show Secretary.
The Show Secretary has an Access Database that can connect to the web site
and pick up these entries which are then copied to the Access database.
That's the 30,000 foot picture of what's going on.
 
Now here's my problem. This site is hosted at an ISP in a shared environment
because I cannot afford to have a dedicated server until this thing can get
going (if it ever does). The ISP requires that each user's IP address be
white listed and the problem being is that many (if not most) of the users
are on dial-up so the IP address is not static. So in short it doesn't work
for them.
 
I'm told that to eliminate the white listing requirement would mean turning
off the fire wall which would open a real can of worns. If this is in fact
true I cannot imagine any ISP not making white listing IP addresses
mandatory for remote connections.  On the other hand there must be a way to
secure the environment and not have to use the IP address. I like the way it
currently works because it is a seamless connection to the remote database
making it very easy to use which I really need as most of the users are not
computer savy.
 
Can anyone offer ideas on either an ISP that does not require white listing
IP addresses in a shared environment or possibly another approch to
accomplishing the same thing?
 
Thanks very much!
 
 
Vic