Access performance over WAN

[Markus]

Does anyone know whether running Access over a WAN running across T1 lines
can have serious performance issues? It appears we have run into this on an
Access app that now runs on LAN but that we wish to run on tables stored on a
remote server that requires Access to interact with the data over these T1
lines.

We are not sure if it is just our network, or if Access will have this
problem anywhere.

Will we need to go to using Terminal Services to get the right performance?

Thanks for any and all ideas on this,
Mark

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Access isn't intended for use across WANs.

You might want to take a look at what Albert Kallal has at
http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Wan/Wans.html

 

[Steve Schapel]

Mark,

In addition to Doug's comments, and Albert's information that Doug
pointed you to, you might find the seeds of a solution here...
http://www.thinsoftinc.com/product_thin_client_winconnect_server_xp.aspx

 

[NetworkTrade]

as a former WAN guy; also keep in mind that T1 is 1.5M which while use to be
huge and tremendously expensive is now compared to a LAN that is typically
today 100M - so it is relatively skinny - then of course the T1 is probably
being used by other applications besides Access. consider replication as
your best approach in terms of user experience...

 

[Tony Toews]

as a former WAN guy; also keep in mind that T1 is 1.5M which while use to be
huge and tremendously expensive is now compared to a LAN that is typically
today 100M - so it is relatively skinny - then of course the T1 is probably
being used by other applications besides Access. consider replication as
your best approach in terms of user experience...

Actually I'd suggest Terminal Server and then SQL Server. And avoid
replication as it can be quite troublesome.

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

 

[David W. Fenton]

as a former WAN guy; also keep in mind that T1 is 1.5M which while
use to be huge and tremendously expensive is now compared to a LAN
that is typically today 100M - so it is relatively skinny - then
of course the T1 is probably being used by other applications
besides Access. consider replication as your best approach in
terms of user experience...

No, consider Terminal Server as your best approach. There is no
reason to move to replication if you have an always-on connection
between the sites.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Actually I'd suggest Terminal Server and then SQL Server.

I certainly second this.

And avoid
replication as it can be quite troublesome.

I wouldn't say it's "troublesome," but it requires more care and
feeding than your typical Access application. And you have to have
good troubleshooting skills in addition to knowing a lot in order to
be able to set up indirect replication across a WAN (direct is only
appropriate for LANs).

 

[aaron.kempf]

Access Data Projects work GREAT over a WAN

-Aaron

 

[aaron.kempf]

I believe that Microsoft specificaly reccomends against using MDB on a
webserver.

In practical experience; it kindof defeats the purpose of buidling an
app that is available 24x7

-Aaron

 

[Tony Toews]

actually I would tend to go with a web front end and avoid terminal server.

I disagree as the replacement development cost could be much higher
than the cost of a terminal server. Furthermore future development
is likely to be significantly more expensive as Access is an excellent
RAD tool for database apps.

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]

I am fammiliar with Terminal Services and thin clients. Not clear on what
you mean about a web front end, tho. As I understand it, this would be done
in a similar fashion with TS using a server running server 2005 but
connecting over the web using Terminal Services software for the web, which I
believe is just another version of TS but web based that lets you connect
with your browser. Is that what you mean by web front end, or did you have
something else in mind?

I suspect he meant an ASP.NET app of some sort or similar product.

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

 

[aaron.kempf]

I disagree.. I could convert a dozen of your most complex apps in about
10 minutes
it's called 'right-click IMPORT'

and sql statements? going from MDB-> SQL?
It's EASY

lose the training wheels; kids

terminal server doesn't scale your app better for your local users.
Access Data Projects eliminates capacity problems; and ADP works great
over a VPN or a WAN.

Access MDB doesn't work across ANY network with decent performance

-Aaron

 

[David W. Fenton]

I disagree as the replacement development cost could be much
higher than the cost of a terminal server. Furthermore future
development is likely to be significantly more expensive as Access
is an excellent RAD tool for database apps.

And a web interface is not nearly as user-friendly or responsive as
an Access UI.

 

[aaron.kempf]

And an MDB interface is not nearly as user-friendly or responsive as an
Access ADP.