1.

My back-end data repository is not Microsoft SQL Server. How do I go about accessing my data?

2.

What options do I have to have the Jokes Web Service perform better?

3.

How do I deploy a Web Service?

4.

Do I need .NET on the client to use the Jokes application?

1.

One solution is to use the data access classes provided in the System.Data.OleDb namespace, that allow you to open data connections to essentially all the data sources that have OLEDB providers, such as Microsoft Office files or Oracle databases. However, because the .NET Framework is still very new, you may run into problems if you stray too far from the main stream. For instance, those classes don t currently work well with Microsoft s own Exchange 2000 Web Storage System, particularly if you are dealing with multi valued fields. Your last recourse is to use straight OLEDB or straight ADO through the .NET COM Interoperability layer.

2.

As a first step, you want to build the application in Release configuration. Because Jokes is an ASP.NET application, you then have all the performance options...