Access to MS SQl on Host

Snookered

Hi All,

Hoping someone can help and point me in right direction
A friend of mine has asked me to take a look at his website, more speficially to look at the data for him.
He has a basic Windows hosting package on Shared Hosting (with a MS SQL Database behind the scenes)
(Usual shared setup Parrells Control Panel and MylittleAdmin for MSSQL etc.)

I can access the database via MyLittleAdmin no problem run querys take backups etc.
I have tried to access this database externally so I can schedule an extraction or update back to it (say from a local SQL Management Studio to the hosted database - like a sql linked server)
I have attempted different connections using the Server Name mssql.host.com and connection string similar to this
[HTML]Data Source=000.00.0.00;Initial Catalog=databasename;Integrated Security=False;User ID=username;Encrypt=False[/HTML]
But with no luck
Has anyone got anything like this working or can anyone suggest what would be the best route to approach this

Thanks in Advance

Talisman

Do the hosting company allow direct access to the database server for external connections?

Snookered

Thanks for the reply Talisman
I have just received an answer back on this and it appears they do not allow external SQL Connections unless your on a VPS
So a linked server is out of the question

Does that mean automating a process will not be possible, that it will have to be manual?
The only alternative I can see at the moment is to create a small web app for a user to log on and run an upload or something along those lines

Thanks again

Talisman

MS SQL Server and shared hosting is a bad combination, however with a bit of imagination you can achieve your goal.

You could automate the process by using a tool like Selenium. Selenium IDE is a browser plugin which allows you to record browser interactions. This would allow you to record a session which could later be replayed.
Example: Selenium IDE - Create a login script
The script can be exported so it can be run later without the need for the browser, this will allow you to automate the process with a tool like Jenkins.

stevenmu

You could either write a simple web service that dumps the data you need out via XML/JSON etc, or possibly use some server side code that lets you call a page and triggers an export/backup and returns the resulting file to you.

ChRoMe

stevenmu wrote: »

or possibly use some server side code that lets you call a page and triggers an export/backup and returns the resulting file to you.

This is how I would approach it.