Concurrency in Access 3

[Kindi]

How many users can use MS Access at one time?

 

[JerryDennison]

I believe the limit is 255. You can find all this information under "Database Specifications" in Help.

 

[jagilman]

Be carefull, if your number of users is getting that big you should probably looking at somthing like SQL Server.
John A. Gilman
gms@uslink.net

 

[Kindi]

Thanks!

Its just that I have 8 users, and from word of mouth i heard the the maximum numer of users Access supports is 20.

Thanks

 

[RickSpr]

The engineered limit on number of users is 255, but the practical limit is almost certainly lower. It depends on a lot of things, including:
1. Your network configuration (bandwidth, collision frequency),
2. Your network software (packet routing and prioritization),
3. Your back end DBMS (number of simultaneous connections allowed, query optimization, stored procedure availability)
4. Your remote data access technology (number of simultaneous connections used, use of SQL pass through, inherent speed of technology),
5. Your database design (optimal use of indexes, normalization and appropriate denormalization), and
6. Your application design (optimal settings for locking, optimized joins, avoidance of reading data that isn't needed, etc.)

Take heart, though. If you only have 8 users, and you've paid any attention at all to record locking needs, you're probably a long way from hitting the practical limit. Rick Sprague

 

[scking]

Like Rick said, there are a lot of variables to consider when determining the realistic limit of how many can use Access but don't panic by someone saying the limit is eight concurrent users. It is much more powerful that many people give it credit for. It mostly also depends on its criticality and any user requirements for response. If users are complaining about response and you have considered everything possible in the design then you should upgrade. SQL Server would be the natural choice and is relatively easy to migrate tables and data but using the full power of stored procedures and triggers will require you to put a reasonable amount of time and effort into the design of the tables and modifications to the front end to use it.

Steve King