Since we run a firewalled network giving clients direct access to the MS SQL servers has always been a security issue.

With MySQL there are open source web frontends, such as PhpMyAdmin, that do a fantastic job at providing a web frontend to the database server. You don't need to be a hardcore DBA to manipulate your data, optimise or repair tables, take backups etc., etc.

But what about Microsoft SQL server?

While there are a couple of open source solutions out there none of them come even close to offering the levels of functionality needed.

So what could we do?

The solution lay in France with a little company called myLittleTools S.A.R.L..