Is it possible to use MS Access rather than SQL Server for login?

I have repeatedly built ASP.NET Web Site using Visual Studio 2008, compiled the projects in Visual Studio, then uploaded them to my web server. The sites appear to run quite nicely and I have been pleased with my work.

Recently, I needed to expand the site so that certain files would require a user to log in. Again, I was able to build such a project using an ASP.NET Web Site project in Visual Studio 2008. Everything appeared to work just fine on my local host server. However, when I tried to install the new pages on my web site server, I could access the login page ok, but any attempt to login was met with the following error:


Quote:
An error has occurred while establishing a connection to the server. When connecting to SQL Server 2005, this failure may be caused by the fact that under the default settings SQL Server does not allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

Now, in the test project App_Data file there was automatically generated an MSSQL database file, ASPNETDB.MDF. I imported this database file to my web server in the web sites App_Data folder, just as it exists in the test site. I also edited the web.config file to authorize the single authorized test user (me) to access certain pages.

Because I wish to economize, I have not upgraded my website to include SQL Server (I have the SQL Server Express edition for free on my local development machine). The error message above suggests that my login isnt working because I don' t have MS SQL server enabled on my web site server. The only other alternative that I can think of is to use MS Access database as the provider for the login data. But I have scoured the Internet but have failed to find a straightforward method of doing this.

Any suggestion that you might have would be greatly appreciated. :wave:

why don't you just install SQL Server Express on your web server?

Sure, using Access is possible, but, in my opinion, that wouldn't even be an option.

My provider charges extra for SQL Server. I have a very low volume website that does not justify the added expense.

I have found a simple method of using MS Access database as a login data source. It appears to work just fine, although it is currently in a testing phase. IMHO, M$ SQL Server is massive overkill for my current needs.