Amen to that!!!
I have built many ASP websites using mdb backends and have had downtime. I
haven't even tried it with ASP.NET because I learned EARLY. If you open the
database and try to modify it, users will "sometimes" get a "Page cannot be
displayed" error because you have the database locked. In early versions of
IIS, closing the database would still not release the locks for some reason.
The only way I could get it back online was to stop IIS and copy, then
rename the mdb, then restart IIS - unbelievable... so... I resorted to
copying the thing elsewhere, modify it as fast, then replace the production
mdb. Hopefully, you are not collecting data while this is going on or else
it would obviously be lost. Sure, you could import some of the changes, but
geez...
On both mdb releases I had instances where ISP administrators did a blanket
permission assignment and gave all web files "read only" thinking that they
were "just html files". That certainly doesn't set well with a mdb.
Using Sql Server is wonderful, I have dozens of sites running with it and
wouldn't think twice about changing anything. Once you set up the
permissions and connection string, it's very unlikely you will ever have to
look at that again unless the entire server changes somehow.
But really, too many Access things like this to list... small database or
large, this is Access and you pay with frustration for keeping things simple
with one little mdb.
--
Jerry Boone
Analytical Technologies, Inc.
http://www.antech.biz
Secure Hosting and Development Solutions for ASP, ASP.NET, SQL Server, and
Access