Are there any public SQL-Server databases available for testing Ac

[Brad]

Are there any public SQL-Server databases available for testing Access 2007
Remote ODBC Connections?

I work for a very small firm. We do not have SQL-Server. Our Web-site is
outsourced, but someday in the future we plan to obtain an ODBC connection to
the SQL-Server tables which support our Web-site. As we wait for this
connection, I would like to experiment with Access-2007 ODBC to learn about
it in preparation for when we get our connection to the Web-site tables.

I know that this is a long shot, but I was wondering if Microsoft or someone
had a public SQL-Server that could be used for testing remote ODBC with
Access-2007.

Thanks,
Brad

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Brad

Microsoft offers a "lite" version of SQL-Server for download.

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[Brad]

Jeff,

Thanks for your response. I tried the free version of SQL-Server on my home
PC and ran into some very time-consuming issues. I am hesitant to download
it at work due to project deadlines. When I have more time later in the
year, I will return to this task.

In the mean time, I would like to experiment with the Access-2007 ODBC
connection to SQL-Server. I thought that perhaps Microsoft had a public
access SQL-Server for such purposes. Probably not, but I still thought that
is was worth asking aorund.

Thanks again,

Brad

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Brad

I seem to recall seeing something Microsoft published about "cloud
computing". Perhaps they have a "public" SQL-Server in that offering.

I also seem to recall seeing something that Amazon offers in the way of
"cloud" database. You might want to do some searching there.

Good luck!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP

 

[Brad]

Jeff,

Thanks for the info. I will do some more digging to see what I can find.

Brad

 

[Brad]

Jeff,

Thanks for your earlier advice.

I took the time to clean up an old PC and install SQL-Server Express 2008 on
it earlier this week. The install went much nicer than before, probably due
to the fact that I was starting without a lot of old baggage on the PC.

I now have SQL-Server Express 2008 running and I am able to get at the
SQL-Server tables via Access-2007 (all on the same PC). I viewed this as
quite an accomplishment.

I now would like to play with “Remote Access†in order to gain some
experience with this. I am new to SQL-Server and I find all of the options
to be a bit overwhelming at this point in time. By remote access, I mean
getting at my little test tables in SQL-Server on my home PC from my PC at
work using Access-2007.

Are you aware of any good resources to help me through the steps for “remote
connectionâ€. I have ordered a couple books and I have surfed the web a bit,
but I have not been able to find an easy-to-understand list of steps to get
remote access working between Access-2007 and SQL-Server-2008.

Thanks,
Brad