Networking

If you have multiple employees or if you run your business from multiple locations, then you will probably want to share your data across multiple computers.  There are several ways to do this in SixBit including remotely connecting to a computer running SixBit or sharing the database across a local network.  You will install SixBit on all the computers, decide which computer will be the database server, and then make each one link to the database on the server depending upon the method chosen.

 

The relationship between SixBit and SQL Server makes sharing databases very customizable.  Before discussing the different ways to share a database, a short discussion on how SixBit and SQL Server work together will help you understand how all this works.  

SQL Server and SixBit

You may recall from your initial installation that SQL Server was installed as a prerequisite to installing SixBit.  Even if you had a copy of SQL Server installed on your computer SixBit installed its own "instance" of SQL Server and called it "SIXBITDBSERVER".  Think of this as SixBit's own private copy of SQL Server that will not interfere with other copies (or be interfered with).  An empty database named "SixBit" is then created in the SIXBITDBSERVER instance during installation.  When the installation is finished, there are two very different programs running.   

 

Each full installation of SixBit will install SQL Server 2014 Express Edition if it is not already on the computer.  If you have a lot of computers to install SixBit on, you can install the client version of SixBit.  The client version doesn't install the database and instead asks for the location of the SQL Server instance the first time it is run.  The full installation and client installation are the same install file.  When installing, the option to perform a full or client installation will be given.

 

SQL Server is running an instance called SIXBITDBSERVER and has a database in it named "SixBit".  Regardless of whether SixBit is installed or uninstalled, the instance of SQL Server and your database will still exist.  

 

When choosing the computer you want to store your database on, we highly recommend you pick the fastest computer with the newest operating system.  In our tests, we've found that there are issues connecting to databases on Non Windows 10 computers through a firewall.   If you want to use a firewall we highly recommend you store your database on a Windows 10 computer if you have it.

Different Ways to Share a Database

There are several different ways to share a database.  

 

You can:

 

The following comparison table will help you make your decision.

 

Method Pros Cons Cost
Remote Connection
  • moderately fast
  • cheap
  • easy to set up
  • only one person can use the computer during the connection
Free
LAN
  • very fast
  • cheap
  • moderate setup
  • requires all computers be connected in the same physical location
Free