SQL over Homegroups?

[Galant]

Hi Guys,

What with Windows 7 & 8 PC's capable of homegroups - but me not having played around with the homegroup way of networking - does anyone have any experience with regards an SQL database and client software running over a homegroup network (2x Win 7 PC's & 2x Win 8 PC's)?

Or at least, anyone have any experience with file/folder-sharing over homegroups?

Essentially I'd need to set full access to the data folder on machine holding the database.

Are homegroups effective at what they do or a dumbed down way of networking?

Thanks.

G.

[shaithis]

SQL talks via TCP/IP, not Samba/CIFS. So, should not be an issue. The only time you would hit any snags at all would be if you tried to use Windows security (instead of SQL authenticated login) or you wanted a scheduled task to write to a share on a different computer.

[rich835]

I tried Homegroups out of curiosity, but I prefer a bit more control over things and like to see what's going on, so I tend to stick with classic file/printer sharing myself.
I think they are a bit of a dumbed down way of networking tbh.

Agree with the last poster though, Microsoft SQL isn't going to care either way unless you're using windows integrated authentication.
If you're using MySQL though, perhaps it would matter even less, I'm not even sure if it supports windows auth out of the box?

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, not quite sure what you're looking at doing here. The correct way to have multiple machines accessing an SQL Server database is to use a client application that connects to the server, at which point Homegroups and file servers (as shaithis says) have nothing to do with it.

Without knowing exactly what you're trying to do, it's hard to advise really, but it sounds like you just need to dedicate one machine as the server, then tell all the clients which machine is the server.

[Galant]

Thanks guys.

I was general just because I've not looked much at how homegroups works so I wasn't sure of the differences.
scaryjim - I do have the usual client software accessing a shared data folder. I just am not sure of whether using homegroups would limit access in some way, or have some odd features that might interfere with normal access to that folder etc.

[scaryjim]

scaryjim - I do have the usual client software accessing a shared data folder. I just am not sure of whether using homegroups would limit access in some way, or have some odd features that might interfere with normal access to that folder etc.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that - normally you'd access a server, which would send data back to the client. That sounds more like you've got multiple instances of the database server, with a shared data file, but not an actual database server. What database are you using, and what's your client software? With a normal SQL client/server architecture, you shouldn't need to access a shared data folder...

[Galant]

Sorry, that is rather unclear.

It's a small network with four Windows 7 machines, all desktop, with one acting as the server. It holds the database which is accessed by the other machines via client software.

It's a dbisam database.

I actually had a play around last night and tried using a homegroup.

Everything seemed to go well.

As far as I can gather from you guys and the net there doesn't seem to be any issue with what is essentially just granting read/write access to a few folders.

[wasabi]

You shouldn't need Homegroups at all. More likely the client will connect via some sort of ODBC thing or custom application so Homegroups completely unnecessary.

[Lucio]

The most common issue I run into at work, when some of our clients refuse to purchase a server capable of acting as a domain controller, is that simultaneous file access can be an issue, with occasional drop-outs or temporary loss of access.

None of this should affect an SQL installation though, but as others have highlighted, it's best to steer clear of using Windows Authentication and setup specific, seperate users.