Access File Sharing

[Alphacenturi]

Hi,

I don't know if anyone can throw any light on this problem but would
appreciate any help possible. Firstly, I should explain that I am not a
Access user, I deal mainly with Hardware issues. I have just comlpeted
replacing a very small 3 system, peer to peer network running Win XP Home.
The systems are all fairly high spec at P4 3.0ghz, 512MB ram, Sata Hard
Drives etc. One system is connected via cable to the network switch, the
other two are wireless.

Somebody had written these people an Access database, after I had installed
the system the "programmer" decide to £update" the databse by sending two
replacement files, one .mdb file and one .mda file. The program then started
throwing various errors and has now totally fallen over, one very bad symptom
being that the database takes forever to load and the whole PC slows down
when they are trying to use this database.

I would be grateful if anyone has ever seen anything like this before and
has any suggestions. Should Access even be running as a networked program
with several users accessing the same file at the same time? All other
programs I have come accross for network use are "network versions". Could
that fact the the new PC's are vety much faster than the old ones have any
influence? I have made sure that all possible Access and Windows updates have
been installed so as a "non programmer" am not sure what else to try. I am
just trying to help as it would appear that the "programmer" also is not sure
what the problem is and he is located many miles away from the installation
= a bit of a mess!!!!!!!

To anyone who has found the time to read all this and then to reply - many
thank yous

Elizabeth

 

[Sharkbyte]

What version of Access are they running? WindowsXP does not like to work
with Access97, under most conditions.

 

[Alphacenturi]

Sorry if I did not make this clear, tis Access 2003 with SP2 and any/all
other available updates.

thank you

 

[Sharkbyte]

Is the db in a client-server model, with a front-end, and then a back-end db
on the server, or are they running the entire db across the network?

The better model would be to have a local front-end linked to tables on the
server db.

 

[Tony Toews]

What version of Access are they running? WindowsXP does not like to work
with Access97, under most conditions.

I've been happily running A97 under Windows XP since Win XP came out.
Including an MDB/MDE with 450 forms and 350 reports against a 300 Mb
MDB backend on a server.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[mnature]

This may not be related to your problems, but Win XP Home does like to
default to having a firewall set up on each computer. If your connection
with the internet is through a switch and modem, then you probably have a
firewall set up through those. You can then turn off the firewall on each
computer (sometimes takes several tries. The Home version does not like to
change default settings). The problems you describe can sometimes be caused
by the firewall, because it will interfere even with peers on the same
network trying to share information or printers.

If Access is set up with a back-end on a server share, and front-ends on all
of your computers, there is no problem with several people accessing the
database at the same time. However, your front-ends need to know where the
back-end (where the tables reside) exists. If the programmer forgot to
update the links before sending you the updated files, then that can cause it
to fail rather dramatically.

 

[Tony Toews]

I don't know if anyone can throw any light on this problem but would
appreciate any help possible. Firstly, I should explain that I am not a
Access user, I deal mainly with Hardware issues. I have just comlpeted
replacing a very small 3 system, peer to peer network running Win XP Home.
The systems are all fairly high spec at P4 3.0ghz, 512MB ram, Sata Hard
Drives etc. One system is connected via cable to the network switch, the
other two are wireless.

Wireless is likely your problem as it is significantly slower than
wired access.

Also wireless is very prone to intermittent failures which Access
really, really does not like. This results in corrupted databases.
I suspect this is the major cause of your problems.

Somebody had written these people an Access database, after I had installed
the system the "programmer" decide to £update" the databse by sending two
replacement files, one .mdb file and one .mda file.

An MDA file is interesting. Dunno why they'd send one of those.

The program then started
throwing various errors and has now totally fallen over, one very bad symptom
being that the database takes forever to load and the whole PC slows down
when they are trying to use this database.

The database may now be in a partially corrupted stated. What happens
when you run the database on the same computer rather than via the
network?

Should Access even be running as a networked program
with several users accessing the same file at the same time?

Access is network ready right out of the box. And works very well
with wired LANs. But it performs poorly in wireless and WAN
networks.

Now Sharkbyte is absolutely correct on the FE/BE. Standard blurb
follows but this is for the programmer and not you. If the
programmer is unaware of the following issues then the programmer is a
"wannabe".

You want to split the MDB into a front end containing the queries,
forms, reports, macros and modules with just the tables and
relationships. The FE is copied to each network users computer. The
FE MDB is linked to the tables in the back end MDB which resides on a
server. You make updates to the FE MDB and distribute them to the
users, likely as an MDE.

See the "Splitting your app into a front end and back end Tips" page
at http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/splitapp/ for more info. See the
Auto FE Updater downloads page
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm to make this relatively
painless.. The utility also supports Terminal Server/Citrix quite
nicely.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Sharkbyte]

I believe, that as long as you have Administrator rights, XP is fine. It's
when the User Rights fall below the Admin. level, that problems arrise.

But, since I'm not running this environment, all of my information is
heresay. =)

Sharkbyte

 

[Tony Toews]

I believe, that as long as you have Administrator rights, XP is fine. It's
when the User Rights fall below the Admin. level, that problems arrise.

But, since I'm not running this environment, all of my information is
heresay. =)

Ah, yes, I had forgotten some of those nasty details. The problem
though is if you are doing development and you want to use the
wizards, for example to build a combo box. Those wizards are MDAs
and well, you get the idea.

If you're just a regular user with limited privileges you should be
fine.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Tony Toews]

This may not be related to your problems, but Win XP Home does like to
default to having a firewall set up on each computer. If your connection
with the internet is through a switch and modem, then you probably have a
firewall set up through those. You can then turn off the firewall on each
computer (sometimes takes several tries. The Home version does not like to
change default settings).

I'd much prefer just to open the Windows Networking port 135. Rather
than disabling the firewall entirely.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm