Update primary back-end from multiple back-ups

[jmoudy77]

Hi, I've got a database with front-ends at multiple locations that pull from a primary back-end over a satellite network. Each time a front-end closes it triggers a back-up utility that creates a back-up of the primary back-end on that front-end's local network; so that in the event the link is lost to the primary back-end, that location's will automatically connect to the back-up back-end. Confused yet, good me too.

My delima is that when the back-up is created at each location, I'm pretty sure all my autonumber primary key fields are going to continue the same numbering sequence, which is fine if each location is connected to the primary but not if a location is using the back-up. Once that location's link to the primary is re-established, I'm not sure how to import the new data because of the conflict between the autonumber primary fields.

Any thoughts?

[ChipR]

It sound like you could just insert any new records from the back-ups and let the primary assign new autonumbers to them. But then, depending on your database, other tables may need to be updated if they were based on those. How are you going to reconcile multiple back-ups where users have edited the same pre-existing record into the primary? Or is that not a possibility?

[jmoudy77]

Thanks Chip, what I ended up doing was changing the primary key from an autonumber to a text field and then combining the data from several different fields to create a unique value for the primary key.