Question

State any three requirements which should be considered before making an investing decision to choose between ‘Desktop database’ or ‘Server database’.

Answer 1

While the desktop databases – residing on standard personal computers – are oriented toward single-user applications, ‘server databases’ are geared toward multi-user applications. Understandably the ‘server database’, containing additional provisions for ensuring reliability and consistency of data in a multi-user environment, is substantially costlier than the ‘desktop database’. Hence, it is imperative to do a careful analysis of our requirements before investing in a database solution.

The points to be considered before making the investment in a database:

1. What data is required to be stored in the database?
2. Who will capture or modify the data, and how frequently the data will be modified?
3. Who will be using the database, and what tasks will they perform?
4. Will the database (backend) be used by any other front-end application?
5. Will access to the database be given over LAN (Local Area Network)/Internet, and for what purposes?
6. What level of hardware and operating system is available?