Hi all, I asked my clients IT department to set me up a SQL Server database on there web server. They have got back to me and said they have set me up a MySQL database. I've never used MySQL before, is there any major differences I need to know about and what is it's equivalent of SQL Server Management Studio? Thanks

I use ASP by the way but don't use my databases for anything majorly complicated.

The standard tool for managing MySQL databases is PHPMyAdmin, which is web-based and free. I also use MySQL Workbench, which is also free and includes db design functionality on top of the usual admin tools -- this is probably going to be more like SQL Server Management Studio.

As for the differences, well the SQL itself won't be too different but for example, the basic table type -- MyISAM -- doesn't support stuff like foreign key constraints. However there are other table types that do support these things if you need them.

Cheers Stickman. Will there be any issues you think with me using ASP and not PHP? Looks like Workbench is what I will need. Thanks

Shouldn't be any issues with ASP -- I know of an old client who's running a pretty huge ASP-based system on top of MySQL and there haven't been any technical issues that I'm aware of. I think there were some problems early on with the devs trying to do some complex SQL Server-specific things that MySQL doesn't support, but if you're not doing anything too complicated then you probably won't have any issues.

Brilliant. Thank you for the help. I've installed Workbench so I'm just waiting for the correct connection details as all they have sent me so far is a username and password!!

...is a username and password

It may be that the MySQL server is not public (it has an IP of 127.0.01, localhost for the server) so there is a possibility that you may not get more than a username/password

If this is the case, you need (like PhpMyAdmin) to have the database admin tool running on the server. This claims to do that: a browser based, ASP driven, MySQL db manager: http://www.2enetworx.com/dev/projects/tableeditor.asp

Also... I know you've heard it now 100000 times... but its really time to upgrade from ASP!

Originally posted by: scudsucker [quote]...is a username and password

It may be that the MySQL server is not public (it has an IP of 127.0.01, localhost for the server) so there is a possibility that you may not get more than a username/password

If this is the case, you need (like PhpMyAdmin) to have the database admin tool running on the server. This claims to do that: a browser based, ASP driven, MySQL db manager: http://www.2enetworx.com/dev/projects/tableeditor.asp

[/quote]

Thanks So I need to put those files on the server in order to access the database? Will it give me a hostname then for me to connect to? Sorry I'm being a bit thick with this. I'm used to having my own control panel on shared hosting to sort all this out myself but my client is using their own server and trying to set it up themselves. Should I be worried if when I contacted technical support for the hostname, they said to use the localhost IP address?

Originally posted by: Suzy [quote]Originally posted by: scudsucker [quote]...is a username and password

It may be that the MySQL server is not public (it has an IP of 127.0.01, localhost for the server) so there is a possibility that you may not get more than a username/password

If this is the case, you need (like PhpMyAdmin) to have the database admin tool running on the server. This claims to do that: a browser based, ASP driven, MySQL db manager: http://www.2enetworx.com/dev/projects/tableeditor.asp

[/quote]

Thanks So I need to put those files on the server in order to access the database? Will it give me a hostname then for me to connect to? Sorry I'm being a bit thick with this. I'm used to having my own control panel on shared hosting to sort all this out myself but my client is using their own server and trying to set it up themselves. Should I be worried if when I contacted technical support for the hostname, they said to use the localhost IP address?[/quote]

As a general rule (for security reasons) hosts don't make the database server itself directly accessible to the outside world -- clients will be limited to accessing via a user name that only has access via localhost (meaning, the software would need to be running on the server itself). Since phpMyAdmin is web-based, it can do exactly that.

If you want to be able to use a desktop client like Workbench then the host would have to a) create a db user with the ability to access the database from an IP other than 127.0.0.1 (i.e. localhost) and then b) make sure that the relevant port was open (usually 3306). They'd also need to supply you with a hostname or IP address for the db server. I wouldn't be surprised if they said no to this, but it's worth asking.

If the problem is price, then SQL Server Express Edition is also free. Your admins can install an Express edition of the latest SQL Server version which will also provide Reporting Services BI component as well

Originally posted by: eralpery If the problem is price, then SQL Server Express Edition is also free. Your admins can install an Express edition of the latest SQL Server version which will also provide Reporting Services BI component as well

Thanks. Strangely that's exactly what we ended up doing yesterday

Sorry to be an absolute pain. The IT guy decided to ditch MySQL and install SQL Server Express and it seems we are not quite sure how I get access to it from here without working on the server directly myself. Does anyone have any experience with this as I haven't got a clue! The details I have been sent are (names and numbers have been changed):

The server ip is: 11.22.333.44

The server name is: AA-BB-123456

The SA is: ABC123P(PPI)NEW

Its SQL Express, I have enabled named Pipes and also the TCP/IP

Am I right in thinking these are just the details for the server and an actual database needs creating where a name, user ID and password can be set that I can then connect to via SQL Server Management Studio? Or are we just banging our heads against a brick wall trying to use the express version?