RLS: Advantages

If you need to maintain a single copy of the data on a server and keep the processing on the client, then RLS is the correct choice. In general, RLS is the best solution in the following situations:
  • The amount of data that is needed by the client is small.
  • The server data is frequently updated.
  • Your data center rules prohibit multiple copies of data.
RLS enables you to access your server data as if it were local. This feature eliminates the explicit step of coding an upload or download of the data before processing it. It also permits the GUI of an application to reside at the client while the data remains at the server (for example, a client FSEDIT session of a server data set). Applications can be built that provide seemingly identical access to client and server data, without requiring the end user to know where the data resides.
Using RLS, you can access and update data that is stored in an external database. RLS enables a client (single user) to access data that is stored in an external database and to update the data through the server (single user).