AccessMembershipProvider

[Martyn Fewtrell]

First let me apologiose if this is a regular question but I am struggling to
find the answer.

There are plenty of posts/articles about the AccessMembershipProvider dating
back to 12/18 months ago but I havnt seen any recent information about it.
One article sugested it was removed during an earlier Beta release of the
framework. Is this the case? If so why was it removed? Is it still available?
Where can I get it from?

The reason for asking is that my normal hosting company (with whom I have a
very good relationship) is under the impression that they cannot provide SQL
Express on a shared hosting platform for licencing reasons and the cost of a
full SQL 2005 database would not be justified for a log on/log off system on
the type of projects on which I work (which are generally for small business).

Any suggestions or links to appropiate white papers would be appreciatted.

 

[Dominick Baier [DevelopMentor]]

Hi,

besides that SQL Express is totally free - here's the download page for the
access provider:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/downloads/providers/default.aspx

 

[Martyn Fewtrell]

Thanks for the reply the link will hopefully help.

I appreciatte that SQL Express is totally Free and I would much rather use
it, but my chosen host appears to be under the impression that as a Service
Provider selling shared hosting packages he is not able (within the terms of
the license) to provide it. Any clarification of this would be appreciatted!
--
Regards

Martyn Fewtrell

 

[Dominick Baier [DevelopMentor]]

hi,

of course i don't know any legal details - i am a developer...

but sql express was specifically made for this purpose (free redist) - i
cannot imagine that a ISP has special restrictions - but i don't know 100%
for sure.

 

[Martyn Fewtrell]

My understanding is exactly as yours. I presume that Microsofts view for the
future is that SQL Express should replace Access for these types of projects.
This will never happen if hosting companies can't provide SQL Express in a
shared hositing environment. The benefit for Microsoft would be that all
these smal business sites built around SQL Express may well have databases
that grow to require the full product. As the platform is more widely
accepted it would presumably boost overall sales of the main product.

I do however have a great relationship with my host and I am confident that
if they could they would (they are still chasing this up at their end).

I'm hoping I might get a comment from Microsoft here although I appreciate
this is now a little of track for this news group! Perhaps they could point
me in the direction of where to get a definative answer?
--
Regards

Martyn Fewtrell

 

[Luke Zhang [MSFT]]

Hello Martyn,

If you have to work with Access database in ASP.NET 2.0, you may create a
customized provider:

Writing A Custom Membership Provider for your ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site:
http://www.devx.com/asp/Article/29256/0/page/3

Hope this help,

Luke

 

[Martyn Fewtrell]

Thanks Luke

I have now got a working Access Data Provider up and running in my test
environment.

I think for the SQL Express issue i have got as close as i can to for an
authorative answer at
http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/10/15/427581.aspx where he states
-

"SQL Express is good for dedicated hosting scenarios, and for scenarios
where you have a small number (4-10) customers on a box (where each can get
their own instance of SQL Express).

When you have 100-1000 customers on a box (massive shared hosting), having a
separate instance of SQL Express for each customer doesn't scale. That is
where/why you'd want to use SQL Server -- and carve up a separate database
for each customer.

Hosting prices for SQL Server have changed dramatically in the last 12
months. Hosters can now pay a $50/month license (no upfront fees) to setup a
SQL Server for multiple customers. For 1000 customers in a hosting scenario,
this translates to 5 cents per customer per month in license fees -- which is
a heck of a lot cheaper than in was before.

Hosters are in turn passing on these savings to customers -- it is pretty
easy now to find ASP.NET + SQL Server hosting for < $10/month (and coming
down)."

There is also a tool in development to easily move a SQL Express Database
over to a full blown instance of SQL 2005

 

[Dominick Baier [DevelopMentor]]

Hi Luke,

that's actually wrong.

you can download the access provider that was pulled from RTM here
http://msdn.microsoft.com/asp.net/downloads/providers/default.aspx