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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel |
#2
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
Mel wrote:
1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? The technical specification is 255. The ACTUAL limit is the number of users before problems occur and that will vary from one application/environment to the next. When all things are at optimum then 50 to 100 is not unheard of. 20 to 30 should be manageable in most cases if the application and network are not terrible. Problem is many apps ARE terrible. 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? The back end is just a remote hard drive. If that machine has slow disk access then it could be a problem or if the network connection between front end and back end is not reliable that would DEFINITELY be a problem. 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? IMO the two most important considerations are to design the app so that the absolute minimum of bytes are pulled over the network and to use a split app where only the data tables are shared and each user has their own local copy of the file with forms, reports, etc.. Next in line would be to use very solid network hardware and avoid wireless if you can. 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Well that will immediately limit you to 10 simultaneous connections. You need a server OS to go any higher. -- Rick Brandt, Microsoft Access MVP Email (as appropriate) to... RBrandt at Hunter dot com |
#3
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
The official limit is 255 simultaneous users, but I think most developers
would agree that's rarely ever attainable. A lot depends on how well designed the database is, and what the usage pattern is (are most of them only reading the database, or are they performing updates?). A poorly designed database where everyone's trying to do updates can have problems with only 2 concurrent users. However, I believe there's a limit to the number of connections that can be made to an XP workstation from the network, and I suspect that's far more likely to be the bottleneck. -- Doug Steele, Microsoft Access MVP http://I.Am/DougSteele (no e-mails, please!) "Mel" wrote in message oups.com... 1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel |
#4
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
On 28 May 2007 06:14:40 -0700, Mel wrote:
1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? According to the documentation, 255 is the max. In practice, however, that number is typically much lower. A lot depends on what you're doing with the application, the speed/robustness of your network and workstations, etc etc ... 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? It can be either, but in general the backend computer (i.e. the "server") is less important than the workstation and network speed, at least as far as Access is concerned. Access (actually Jet, the database engine that's included with Access) is a file server database. The "backend" is little more than a file, and has no query parser, etc etc ... the workstation must do all the heavy lifting like parsing queries, updating/deleting/adding records, etc etc, and to do that the workstation must pull the needed tables across the network. Needless to say, when the tables begin to grow this can be a big task. Proper indexing can help to some degree (if your query uses only indexed fields, then the workstation can use the index tables, which are much smaller) but too much indexing can slow data entry - so there's a trade-off, to some degree and at some point even good indexing won't help. Compare this to a client server database like MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc. In those cases, your application can send a request to the database engine and the db engine will parse that request and return a recordset (or other object) with only the requested records ... this can significantly reduce network load and make response times much faster. Note that your Access application can use these server databases as well, so you can always keep your Access frontend and migrate your data to a true CS database engine in the future. 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? Check Tony Toews site: http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/tipsindex.htm specifically the Best Practices and Performane FAQ sections. He also has links to several other sites and MS KB articles that give goo advice. 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel Scott McDaniel www.infotrakker.com |
#5
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
Scott McDaniel wrote in
news Access (actually Jet, the database engine that's included with Access) is a file server database. The "backend" is little more than a file, and has no query parser, etc etc ... the workstation must do all the heavy lifting like parsing queries, updating/deleting/adding records, etc etc, and to do that the workstation must pull the needed tables across the network. NO, NO, NO, NO. If the table is properly indexed, only the needed portions of the index pages will be pulled across the wire, and then only the data pages storing the requested records will be pulled across the wire. The only circumstance in which the whole table will be pulled is when there are no criteria or all the criteria are on non-indexed fields and there are no joins with other tables. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/ |
#6
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
1 Access can't reliably support a half-dozen users
2 move to SQL Server 3 move to SQL Server 4 move to SQL Server "Mel" wrote in message oups.com... 1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel |
#7
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
oh douglas
a poorly designed database, where everyones trying to do updates can't support 2 users/ that is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard in my life "Douglas J. Steele" wrote in message ... The official limit is 255 simultaneous users, but I think most developers would agree that's rarely ever attainable. A lot depends on how well designed the database is, and what the usage pattern is (are most of them only reading the database, or are they performing updates?). A poorly designed database where everyone's trying to do updates can have problems with only 2 concurrent users. However, I believe there's a limit to the number of connections that can be made to an XP workstation from the network, and I suspect that's far more likely to be the bottleneck. -- Doug Steele, Microsoft Access MVP http://I.Am/DougSteele (no e-mails, please!) "Mel" wrote in message oups.com... 1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel |
#8
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
you shouldn't use linked tables.. I mean-- what a joke
you should be using Access Data Projects, it is 10 times simpler to manage things like index tuning wizard, database maintenance wizard--= it's just a ton easier to manage SQL Server MDB has been obsolete for a decade "Scott McDaniel" wrote in message news On 28 May 2007 06:14:40 -0700, Mel wrote: 1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? According to the documentation, 255 is the max. In practice, however, that number is typically much lower. A lot depends on what you're doing with the application, the speed/robustness of your network and workstations, etc etc ... 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? It can be either, but in general the backend computer (i.e. the "server") is less important than the workstation and network speed, at least as far as Access is concerned. Access (actually Jet, the database engine that's included with Access) is a file server database. The "backend" is little more than a file, and has no query parser, etc etc ... the workstation must do all the heavy lifting like parsing queries, updating/deleting/adding records, etc etc, and to do that the workstation must pull the needed tables across the network. Needless to say, when the tables begin to grow this can be a big task. Proper indexing can help to some degree (if your query uses only indexed fields, then the workstation can use the index tables, which are much smaller) but too much indexing can slow data entry - so there's a trade-off, to some degree and at some point even good indexing won't help. Compare this to a client server database like MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc. In those cases, your application can send a request to the database engine and the db engine will parse that request and return a recordset (or other object) with only the requested records ... this can significantly reduce network load and make response times much faster. Note that your Access application can use these server databases as well, so you can always keep your Access frontend and migrate your data to a true CS database engine in the future. 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? Check Tony Toews site: http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/tipsindex.htm specifically the Best Practices and Performane FAQ sections. He also has links to several other sites and MS KB articles that give goo advice. 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel Scott McDaniel www.infotrakker.com |
#9
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
bull**** dork
stop spreading lies, kid "David W. Fenton" wrote in message . 1... Scott McDaniel wrote in news Access (actually Jet, the database engine that's included with Access) is a file server database. The "backend" is little more than a file, and has no query parser, etc etc ... the workstation must do all the heavy lifting like parsing queries, updating/deleting/adding records, etc etc, and to do that the workstation must pull the needed tables across the network. NO, NO, NO, NO. If the table is properly indexed, only the needed portions of the index pages will be pulled across the wire, and then only the data pages storing the requested records will be pulled across the wire. The only circumstance in which the whole table will be pulled is when there are no criteria or all the criteria are on non-indexed fields and there are no joins with other tables. -- David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/ usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/ |
#10
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How many "simultaneous users" can Access support?
Aaron Kem.pf is posting under a new alias.
"Tom Wimpernark" wrote in message ... you shouldn't use linked tables.. I mean-- what a joke you should be using Access Data Projects, it is 10 times simpler to manage things like index tuning wizard, database maintenance wizard--= it's just a ton easier to manage SQL Server MDB has been obsolete for a decade "Scott McDaniel" wrote in message news On 28 May 2007 06:14:40 -0700, Mel wrote: 1 - How many "simultaneous users" can Access support? According to the documentation, 255 is the max. In practice, however, that number is typically much lower. A lot depends on what you're doing with the application, the speed/robustness of your network and workstations, etc etc ... 2 - Is the problem the backend computer resources or the Access code? It can be either, but in general the backend computer (i.e. the "server") is less important than the workstation and network speed, at least as far as Access is concerned. Access (actually Jet, the database engine that's included with Access) is a file server database. The "backend" is little more than a file, and has no query parser, etc etc ... the workstation must do all the heavy lifting like parsing queries, updating/deleting/adding records, etc etc, and to do that the workstation must pull the needed tables across the network. Needless to say, when the tables begin to grow this can be a big task. Proper indexing can help to some degree (if your query uses only indexed fields, then the workstation can use the index tables, which are much smaller) but too much indexing can slow data entry - so there's a trade-off, to some degree and at some point even good indexing won't help. Compare this to a client server database like MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc. In those cases, your application can send a request to the database engine and the db engine will parse that request and return a recordset (or other object) with only the requested records ... this can significantly reduce network load and make response times much faster. Note that your Access application can use these server databases as well, so you can always keep your Access frontend and migrate your data to a true CS database engine in the future. 3 - Is there any tips for minimizing the potential issues? Check Tony Toews site: http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/tipsindex.htm specifically the Best Practices and Performane FAQ sections. He also has links to several other sites and MS KB articles that give goo advice. 4 - Other comments and tips welcome. (We run Access on a peer-to-peer network. Back End on a machine we call the Network Drive... but it is just running XP... now Windows Server.) Thanks for any help. Mel Scott McDaniel www.infotrakker.com |
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