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Is it possible to access MS Access 2010 database over the internet without using Sharepoint or similar services? I have a server where I want to put the back end and email the front end to various people. As I understand this is easy if all the users are on the local network. But how do I share my database over the internet? Thanks.

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MS Access 2010 is a file-based database. Thus the only way to share it with a separate front-end / back-end database (linked tables) setup is if you expose the file share on the Internet. This is most definitely NOT a good idea.

Even if you use a VPN to add security you will probably find performance unacceptable. The only realistic solution is to use a SQL Server back-end and link to that from the MS Access front-end databases.

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You don't have to use SQL Server at the back-end. Access as a front-end should work with any ODBC connection, so the back-end could be any DBMS (including SQLite, for argument's sake). – Randolph West Feb 17 '11 at 23:44
Thanks for your answer. Although sharing it is not a good idea, I would like to know how I can do it. Any suggestions how I can do it? – Baha Feb 17 '11 at 23:45
Randolph, I will try ODBC. Thanks. – Baha Feb 17 '11 at 23:45
Access doesn't like too many connections, so be wary of this. – Randolph West Feb 18 '11 at 1:27
@Baha you can ONLY do this by exposing a file share on the Internet. You would likely need to remove any firewalls and probably also add a port-mapping rule. Even once you've done all of that performance will likely be unacceptable. – Joel Mansford Feb 18 '11 at 22:02
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Host the app on Windows Terminal Server.

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