E commerce data base client
server integration
Client Server
It is probably also worthwhile explaining
very briefly what client server technology means and what
its benefits are:
With client server technology, the
workload is split between the PCs (the client) and one or
more larger computers (the server) on a network. The data
is still stored on the server(s) and requests are sent from
the client to the server but, whereas in a traditional network
environment all the processing is then done on the client,
in a client/server set-up the processing is split between
the client and the server. This produces a number of benefits:
Performance. With correctly specified
hardware, speed should improve, sometimes dramatically so.
Scalability. If a database is based
on client server technology then there should be no significant
degradation of performance regardless of the size of the database
or the number of users.
Robustness and data integrity. It
includes functions which protect your data from accidental
damage.
The main issue with implementing
a client server implementation is that the server needs to
be a very powerful machine with plenty of memory, and hence
more expensive. Each application will require its own specifications.
Regardless of what type of business
database you select, there are a number of technical considerations
which you may want to consider:
Database size and users. Your e commerce
database should be able to handle a far higher number of records
and number of users than you currently have. Both in case
of potential expansion on your behalf and in general as it
is worth avoiding the use of a system which you are pushing
to its very limits.
Industry standards. Microsoft Windows
is still the industry standard. If you want to diverge from
that, make sure you are comfortable with doing so, you can
get hardware support and enough software applications. Windows
can also help 'future-proof' any database development and
most people are familiar with its interface
Relational databases. This means
that you only need to update a data item in one place for
the system to update other 'linked' records. (For example,
if someone changes their surname, you should only have to
edit that information once and the system should update any
other instances of the name automatically).
Record locking. Ensure that record
locking does not mean that two users cannot do two different
tasks at the same time on the same record (e.g. run a report
when another user is updating a record).
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