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How does live mesh handle active MDB's/ RRS feed

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    I was wondering, one of the folders i want to sync is actually a site me and a friend are working on but as its data driven from a MDB (Access 2k database) we're worried about using live mesh to sync the folder... i mean how will livemesh handle the fact that the main MDB is updated pretty often, i mean is it going to be sending 200mB every 10 minutes? or does it send the incremental changes constantly... or is their a way to put off updates only to a certain time... 

    and how will it cope with the fact that MDB's in use are locked and then unlocked... im a bit confused as their isnt any real informtation on that on the blog etc. 
    Saturday, July 12, 2008 5:04 PM

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    Hi Chris,

    There are a number of issues with using Live Mesh for the scenario you describe, all surrounding the fact that when a file is in a Live Mesh folder each change made to the file causes a change event, which means Live Mesh will attempt to sync this file with other devices.  At present, this will cause at least three fairly significant problems for the situation you're considering.


    First, currently when Live Mesh syncs a changed file it passes the whole file to every other device.  If you have a 200MB file, Live Mesh will send the entire file every time it is updated.  We are working to change this (adding "delta sync" - a popular request), but that is the way it works at present.

    Secondly, we do not currently provide any sort of synchronization scheduling options for the user.  Thus you cannot get around the first problem by, say, specifying when those large files are synced.  Again, we're working to improve this in a future release.

    Finally, if the MDB is going to be edited on multiple machines you will potentially have an issue with file conflicts, because Live Mesh will not be able to do merges of conflicting edits made on different machines.  Instead, you will be presented with 2 whole copies of the MDB file,  which I imagine would not be very useful for your purposes.  The ability to merge conflicting files is, however, a feature request we've seen a few times, so please feel free to add your vote for this feature to our Wish List sticky.

    So, right now (I'm sorry to say) it does not seem to me that Live Mesh is the best option for you.  We are only in the Tech Preview stage, though, so maybe in the future Live Mesh will be what you're looking for. :)

    Thanks for the question, I hope I've helped.

    Ben.

    Tuesday, July 15, 2008 6:31 PM

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    Instead of syncing the whole mdb, what about just syncing update objects (i.e. csv file, xml infoset, etc)?  That way, you remove a whole class of issues.  Each client will have it's own mdb and get CRUD transactions from the feed.  Have not tried it yet, but that is the direction I would start.
    Sunday, July 13, 2008 4:38 PM
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    Hi Chris,

    There are a number of issues with using Live Mesh for the scenario you describe, all surrounding the fact that when a file is in a Live Mesh folder each change made to the file causes a change event, which means Live Mesh will attempt to sync this file with other devices.  At present, this will cause at least three fairly significant problems for the situation you're considering.


    First, currently when Live Mesh syncs a changed file it passes the whole file to every other device.  If you have a 200MB file, Live Mesh will send the entire file every time it is updated.  We are working to change this (adding "delta sync" - a popular request), but that is the way it works at present.

    Secondly, we do not currently provide any sort of synchronization scheduling options for the user.  Thus you cannot get around the first problem by, say, specifying when those large files are synced.  Again, we're working to improve this in a future release.

    Finally, if the MDB is going to be edited on multiple machines you will potentially have an issue with file conflicts, because Live Mesh will not be able to do merges of conflicting edits made on different machines.  Instead, you will be presented with 2 whole copies of the MDB file,  which I imagine would not be very useful for your purposes.  The ability to merge conflicting files is, however, a feature request we've seen a few times, so please feel free to add your vote for this feature to our Wish List sticky.

    So, right now (I'm sorry to say) it does not seem to me that Live Mesh is the best option for you.  We are only in the Tech Preview stage, though, so maybe in the future Live Mesh will be what you're looking for. :)

    Thanks for the question, I hope I've helped.

    Ben.

    Tuesday, July 15, 2008 6:31 PM