Microsoft Access is a popular desktop database management system that can handle small to medium-sized databases and allow multi-user access over the network. However, it has scalability issues as it does not support client-server architecture, which is common for more powerful and reliable database management systems. This limitation makes it difficult for growing companies to use Microsoft Access and often necessitates the migration of their data to MySQL, a more scalable and cost-effective DBMS.
There are several reasons why companies and organizations choose to migrate from MS Access to MySQL, including:
- MySQL can work as the back-end for MS Access, allowing users to continue using Microsoft Access as a user-friendly interface.
- MySQL is the best choice for integrating databases with web servers like Apache, enabling the creation of data-driven sites, catalogues, or corporate portals.
- MySQL supports modern programming languages like C++, PHP, Perl, Python, and many others, and its components and APIs are free and work on all popular platforms.
- MySQL can handle many simultaneous connections to the database through native client-server architecture.
- MySQL provides a sophisticated system of privileges for more control over user roles and permissions.
- MySQL has an open-source distribution with many free tools and frameworks, making it a cost-effective choice for database management.
There are several approaches to migrate Microsoft Access databases to MySQL servers, ranging from manual to automated methods. The most straightforward approach involves extracting data from the MS Access database into temporary storage, converting it to MySQL format, and then loading it into the destination database. Other more automated approaches include exporting data using Microsoft Access, generating MySQL scripts from the original database, or using commercial migration tools.
Commercial migration tools, such as those offered by Intelligent Converters, a software company specializing in database migration since 2001, can automate the entire migration process with just a few clicks of a mouse button. These tools often support command-line interfaces, allowing users to script and schedule the migration procedure. With the right tools and techniques, migrating from MS Access to MySQL can be a straightforward and cost-effective process.
Their MS Access to MySQL converter offers essential features to automate and simplify the database migration:
- Table structures, data, indexes, constraints, foreign keys and queries/views are migrated
- Supports all modern versions of the source and target DBMS
- Supports popular MySQL forks and cloud variations such as MariaDB, Percona, Azure for MySQL, Amazon RDS
- Can customize structure of the resulting tables
- Migration settings are stored into profile for next use
- Options to merge and sync MS Access data into existing MySQL database
- Options to export MS Access database into MySQL script file
- Options to filter data to migrate using SELECT-queries
To learn more about MS Access to MySQL converter, visit the official page of the product.
