online database for C# window application

Question

I'm going to develop a POS system for medium scale company and the requirement for me is to make all data on time for all of their branches while in my mind, move the server from local to web would solve this problem but, i never done any online server for window application may i know what is the best option for use as secure database ? such as SQL can handle this well ? i tried to google but all of the result return is not what i want may i know what will you do when you facing this problem ? my knowledge on coding is just VB and CS also SQL for database i would like to learn new if there is better option i hope it is impossible to access by anonymous and it is store secure at back-end only

Answer 1

What you probably want to do is create a series of services exposed on the internet and accessed by your application. All database access would be mediated by these services. For security you would probably want to build them in WCF and expose them through IIS. Then your Windows application would just call these services for most of its processing.

If you design it properly you could also have it work with a local database as well so that it could work in a disconnected manner if, for example, your servers go down.

Answer 2

Typically you don't move the server off of the site premises.

The problem is that they will go completely down in the event your remote server is inaccessible. Things that can cause this are internet service interruption (pretty common), remote server overloaded (common enough), basically anything that can stop the traffic between the store location and your remove server will bring them to their knees. The first time this happens they'll scream. The second time and they'll want your head due to the lost sales.

Instead, leave a sql server at each location. Set up a master sql server somewhere. Then set up a VPN connection between the stores and this central office. Finally, have the store sql boxes do merge replication with the central office. Incidentally, don't use the built in replication, but an off the shelf product which specializes in replicating sql server. The built in one can be difficult to learn.

In the event their internet connection goes dark the individual stores will still be able to function. It will also remain performant as all of the desktop app traffic is purely to the local sql box.

Solving replication errors is much easier than dealing with a flaky ISP.

Answer 3

I would recommend you to check Viravis Platform out.

It is an application platform that also can be used just as an online database for any .NET client with the provided SDK. It has its own generic windows and web clients and some custom web solutions for some specific applications.

You may be using it as a complete solution or as a secure online database backend.