Online database for C# CRM system?

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I want to build my father's company a small CRM system in Visual Studio. Nothing fancy, just a small database to store client details where they can add, remove or view clients and call up clients to see when their next service is due. Maybe even a button to see which clients have services due in a given month.

It's very simple and because I'm working with computer illiterate people who have very limited needs from this system, I don't want to bog it down with unnecessary complexity. My issue is I want to make use of a database in the cloud. This is because if they accidentally shut the database process down, they won't know how to restart it and I want to be able to remotely log in, say once a week, and just do quick database backups.

From a coding standpoint I can probably do this over a weekend (depending on how difficult it is to connect to the specific database in Visual Studio), but I don't know what database solution to use. Does anyone maybe have any recommendations for which database to use that is also easy to integrate into a Visual Studio program? I'm also open to suggestions for local database, but a cloud solution would just work better because I can't go by their office regularly to do maintenance. I did something similar in Delphi for an academic project last year, but I'd prefer to do it in C# so that I have something to add to my portfolio.
 
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MSSQL. If its hosted with an online host your people wont be able to shut it down by mistake, and it's more than capable.
 
You can create the website anmd Database in azure through the portal and just use the SQL Management Studio client on your machine to connect to it. No need to install the database engine unless you go the VM route which I wouldn't suggest.

just remember to let the staff test the performance through the cloud. You might be forced to scratch your plans putting it in the cloud if the performance sucks.
 
MYSQL - I've done countless sites and apps like you describe, it free and works well.

Also pls explain this : accidentally shut the database process down

How are you coding that this is possible? In webforms its near impossible and in a well coded winform its impossible unless you are doing something very wrong.

I use WAMP to host my MYSQL db which is on an afrihost rented server.I dont recommend afrihost.
 
Batista said:
MYSQL - I've done countless sites and apps like you describe, it free and works well.

Also pls explain this : accidentally shut the database process down

How are you coding that this is possible? In webforms its near impossible and in a well coded winform its impossible unless you are doing something very wrong.

I use WAMP to host my MYSQL db which is on an afrihost rented server.I dont recommend afrihost.
Click to expand...

So who do you recommend then?
 
I've been with Afrihost on a shared Linux server for just over a year now. Given that it's a shared server I can't complain about the service I've received... hence my question.
 
imranpanji said:
Ja. We have legacy systems running it on windows xp. As soon as you upgrade, it dies
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean, but it supports all the latest OSs. Have quite a few production systems running on it (64bit server 2012).

It is pretty current from a version point of few. Latest version release this year stil....
 
Spacerat said:
Not sure what you mean, but it supports all the latest OSs. Have quite a few production systems running on it (64bit server 2012).

It is pretty current from a version point of few. Latest version release this year stil....
Click to expand...
Legacy app installs an old version of the db automatically . Changing the version , the app doesn't work properly....it doesn't even connect to it.

The apps fault for sure, as it can't accept newer versions
 
imranpanji said:
Legacy app installs an old version of the db automatically . Changing the version , the app doesn't work properly....it doesn't even connect to it.

The apps fault for sure, as it can't accept newer versions
Click to expand...

Yes it prob installs the embedded version of the DB. Is the problem changing the DB version? From some versions to the next, the on-disk structure of the db is diff. All yo need to do is backup with old server version and restore on new. Voila
 
Thor187 said:
MySQL
Click to expand...
While a valid response, you deserve a warning for that. MSSQL is good enough for a database. If you are using c#, odds are you are already better off just using MSSQL. There is an express version.
 
Spacerat said:
Yes it prob installs the embedded version of the DB. Is the problem changing the DB version? From some versions to the next, the on-disk structure of the db is diff. All yo need to do is backup with old server version and restore on new. Voila
Click to expand...
I think there is some differences wrt the SQL commands in the app. I tried everything...it failed
 
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