How to access a remote database with Reliance

There are two possibilities:

I. Direct access to a remote database

II. Access to a remote database over a network connection

I. Direct access to a remote database

The first way is to access a remote database directly. The client runtime software directly accesses files of a remote database, opens them and reads data from them.

Requirements:

• Computers must be connected to a network so that directories can be shared.
• The directory containing the remote database's files must be shared for reading and writing.
• The database must be of type "DBase" (Reliance Design | Database Manager | Database | Advanced | Database type).

Solution:

• Share the directory (configure the read and write access for competent users) where the remote database is stored on your server computer.
• Add the respective database to the "Databases" folder (Reliance Design | Project Structure Manager | computer | Databases) under the client computer.
• Configure the properties for the connected database: "Primary directory", "Standby directory": a network path to the shared directory of the remote database, e.g.\\DataServer1\DataDbAccess\Data\
  "Connection": "Direct"
  "Sample real-time data": inactive
  "Create archive files": inactive.

Disadvantages:

• The remote database's directory must be shared
• Slower access to the database
• More data transferred to the client computer
• Impossible access to the database if offline

II. Access to a remote database over a network connection

The second possibility is to access a remote database over a network connection. The client runtime software does not access the remote database's files. Instead, it creates its own local copy of the database and updates it with data acquired from a data server over a network connection. When the database's data is requested, the client runtime software opens the local database's files and reads data from them.

Requirements:

• Computers must be connected to a network so that instances of the runtime software can communicate with each other using the TCP/IP protocol at certain range of TCP/IP ports (the default range is 50001 – 65535)

Solution:

• Add the respective database to the "Databases" folder (Reliance Design | Project Structure Manager | Computers | Database) under the client computer.
• Configure the properties for the connected database:
  "Primary directory", "Standby directory": the local database's directory; can be blank - in this case, the "Data" subdirectory of the visualization project will be used (the project should be stored on the computer's local hard disk).
  "Connection": "Network"
  "Delete oldest archive files": as needed - enables you to limit the number of archive files maintained on the client computer.
• Define a network connection with the data server computer.
• Add the respective database to the "Databases" folder (Reliance Design | Project Structure Manager | computer | Network connection groups | network connection group | network connection | Databases).
• Configure the properties for the network-connected database:
  "Limit downloaded archive file count": as needed - enables you to limit the number of archive files downloaded to the client computer when there are no files yet "Data update interval": specifies the time interval used by the client runtime software for requesting the data server for updates.

Advantages:

• The remote database's directory need not be shared.
• Faster access to the database.
• Less data transferred to the client computer (transferred data is compressed).
• Possible access to the database if offline.

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