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I have this scenario a POS application built with VB.NET works well over local network . I have a new company that have many stores in a different locations and they want all stores to be connected together. The owner wants to have reports of what is happening in each store. I have two ideas

The first idea: to have one central database hosted on a web server and connect all clients to this database. I think this is easiest solution but I am not sure about it reliability. the main drawbacks of this approach is if there is a problem with the internet connection then the system will not work in addition to the slow performance.

The second idea: is to have a local database in each branch and one central database on a web server and do all operations in the local database and then update the central database every while.

Is there any common or standard approach to use in such scenario?

what do you think? Any ideas? Thank you,

Ayman Mustafa
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  • Well, this is quite a complicated scenario. It depends on how you need the branch office data to be available in other locations. And of course on what central data should be available in the branch offices (like prices, discounts). Network availability is also a constraint. So you will need to carefully evaluate every technical constraint your application will be facing, and choose accordingly. In such a scenario I would not leave open endpoints, even authenticated and encrypted ones, better set up VPN. – ZorgoZ Oct 07 '19 at 15:20

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From what I think in your case, I would advice not to go with the second option as this will slow down things. If the owner need a report based on data collected over all the branches instantaneous, it will be nearly impossible. The local data's from each branches need to be collated together in the central db, and the report need to be generated, which will take time (running a SQL job at end of each day). Also, the main disadvantage is the need to repeat the same processes in each branch. If the data being dealt with is similar, it is advisable to use a central database, with regular backup taken aside in cloud or locally.

About the central database, without knowing the topographic information and availability of internet connection, I would prefer using a cloud database such as Amazon or Azure. Both services have free usage periods (though usage above the limits will yield good amount of money).

Geo Baby
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