Just a question from a newbie. What is a typical database infrastructure w/ a web application.

So,..You create the database, eg, *.mdb. Then u put in on a server. Make sure that server is always connected to the internet. When people choose to retrieve data from the website, they click a few form and drop down buttons, then this information is sent back in query-form to the Management System(eg sql server 2005), which happens to be on the server that helps retrieve the data store.

is all this correct?

Any help muchly appreciated,

Justin

Let's clear up a few things. First, we'll talk about databases. *.mdb means Microsoft Access, which you could certainly use in a web application, but generally don't want to. You also mention SQL Server 2005, which is sort of Access's "big brother" and a much more powerful and featured database. You would use one or the other, generally depending on what you have a license for on the server.

Next, databases by themselves don't have anything to do with the internet. And the db you create doesn't have to be directly accessible from the 'net ... actually, that's the point. You need a web server, something like IIS or Apache, to write ASP(x) or PHP code that talks to the database. Your web server code is like a proxy to the data. The web server needs to be able to access the database, but most people tend to hide the db behind a firewall and only allow access to it through the web app.

Hope this helps some.

What Forrest said:

Page sends query request.
Database is opened.
Result(s) are sent back.
Database is closed.
Output is displayed.

That's about the easiest way I can oversimplify it.

For the record I think most of the time the database and web application live on the same server.