Forum Discussion
Access databases in Azure
Paul Le Sueur You are right' there's isn't a lot of information out there...
I have only a couple of thoughts and a question.
- My understanding is that running an Access relational database application in an Azure VM is a good solution, performance wise.
- I would be cautious about Azure File Services if you want to put a back end there and a front end on a Windows desktop. I had no luck with a setup using Azure Storage Accounts because Windows Explorer could not reach them.
I don't know if there is a difference in architecture that would support the Azure File Services approach, but it would be good to know one way or the other upfront.
Finally, my question, out of curiosity, and not being argumentative. Why is SQL Azure off the table?
Paul Le Sueur You are right' there's isn't a lot of information out there...
I have only a couple of thoughts and a question.
- My understanding is that running an Access relational database application in an Azure VM is a good solution, performance wise.
- I would be cautious about Azure File Services if you want to put a back end there and a front end on a Windows desktop. I had no luck with a setup using Azure Storage Accounts because Windows Explorer could not reach them.
I don't know if there is a difference in architecture that would support the Azure File Services approach, but it would be good to know one way or the other upfront.
Finally, my question, out of curiosity, and not being argumentative. Why is SQL Azure off the table?
Thank you very much for your insights George_Hepworth!
I'm no Azure specialist, I have colleagues that do that 
however, I gather that creating file shares and then connecting to Windows Explorer is possible, just a bit different to an on-premises setup. These articles look promising:
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/files-smb-protocol
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/storage-how-to-create-file-share?tabs=azure-portal
- https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/files/storage-how-to-use-files-windows
In short, to answer your questions:
- This Access database migration is for a customer and is part of a larger project to move everything to M365 and Azure. There are also pressures from other applications with file storage requirements, so at least at present, it does seem like running an Azure VM file server would be the better option.
- As far as Azure SQL goes, it's not completely off the table; but the database belongs to the customer, is under their control and development, and I see moving to SQL Server as being a step that should be avoided at present if possible. I will mention it as a possibility if Access hosted in Azure isn't performant, however, if the back-end database were to move to SQL, then the customer would need to spend out for SQL Server AND for an Azure VM file server; which would increase the budget...
Thanks again
Paul.
- Hi Paul,
Did you ever explore the options further and implement anything? I am sure I am not the only person that would like to know what happened.
Regards,
Doug
