MSDE and SQL Server 2000 design questions...

[Eric B]

Hello gurus:

Hopefully someone can shed some light on some questions I have. I am
tasked to build an application that will schedule and track tasks. I
firmly believe in not reinventing the wheel however also feel that
customizing is certainly not out of the question.

I am looking to build something in ASP (or .NET) that can allow an
individual to work "disconnected" from the network while still
accessing a database (MSDE?) that will sync with SQL 2000 once
re-connected. I have built multiple db apps that are strictly web
based and consider myself somewhat knowledgeable (read.. dangereous)
SQL/ASP dude. I understand that for a stand-alone client app I may
have to use .NET and load the framewsork on the client in order to run
the dynamic pages for database updates. Here are my questions:

1) Is there a way for SQL server to "replicate" its tables into a
schema/data recognized by MSDE (i.e. generate the "mother ship" tables
and schema first, then use SQL Server to automatically create (export)
the client MSDE tables)

2) are there tools to manage MSDE so one can see what the heck is in
there? I understand Enterprise manager will not work in this regard.

3) Are there any resources (documents, tutorials etc..) for data
replication (i.e. dbsync from MSDE up to MSSQL and vice-versa)

4) Am I wasting my time doing this from scratch because there is
already something out there that does all this that is moderately
priced and customizable?

Thanks for your attention and consideration.

Eric B

[Erland Sommarskog]

Eric B (br**********@hotmail.com) writes:

1) Is there a way for SQL server to "replicate" its tables into a
schema/data recognized by MSDE (i.e. generate the "mother ship" tables
and schema first, then use SQL Server to automatically create (export)
the client MSDE tables)
That's plain-vanilla replication.
2) are there tools to manage MSDE so one can see what the heck is in
there? I understand Enterprise manager will not work in this regard.
Enterprise Manager works, it is just that the license does not permit
it, I believe.

There is always OSQL, a command-line tool.
3) Are there any resources (documents, tutorials etc..) for data
replication (i.e. dbsync from MSDE up to MSSQL and vice-versa)

There should be plenty of information in Books Online. I would start
there. For a newsgroup, microsoft.public.sqlserver.replication may
be a better venue.


--
Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, so****@algonet.se

Books Online for SQL Server SP3 at
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinf...2000/books.asp