Data changes not being saved to table/s

[Larft]

I'm starting to see a lot of issues with several of my databases (Access 2003) on our network not saving edited/added data to the tables. We used to run on a Novell network but this was changed in the last year or so to a Windows based Active Directory environment. I suspect that the problem is largely due to network congestion, has anyone else experienced this in a similar migration? Any suggestions, other than migrating away from MS Access, that anyone has relative to network traffic and improving Access robustness would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ed2020]

Larft,

A few questions that may help us diagnose your problem:

Are you using bound or unbound forms?

If unbound, DAO or ADO?

Is MS Access your backend as well, or just a frontend?

Are users receiving error messages when records fail to save?

Do you have an error log to verify the error messages (or lack of)?

Have you tried with just one user with the database on the network to eliminate problems caused by multiple users accessing the system?

Have you tried moving the database to a local drive to see if this eliminates the problem?

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[Larft]

Thanks ed2020,

This is a late night reply for me at home so you'll have to forgive me if I'm a bit short.

Forms are bound - I'm not a VB programmer, I developed my DB's using the Access development frontend.

DAO as far as I remember, haven't delved into ADO unless using the built in wizards and tools in 2003 implemented some ADO functions

Access is front and backend

No error logs, no errors are reported when the issues occur, other than I sometimes get a network/disk error, sounds like an overloaded LAN disconnect

It will happen with just one user connected to the DB, heavy load would be maybe 8 users simultaneously

A local copy is rock solid.

Unfortunately, I just had to feed two Trolls to get them off my back......

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ed2020]

Hmmm....

I very rarely use bound forms, so you may get better responses from other people here. I'd still expect an error message if Access fails to save the data from a bound form to a table, regardless of the reason (unless the MSAccess process has been killed, which is clearly not happening in your case). Mind you, there are lots of things I expect from Access that I don't get, so nothing would surprise me.

Are you seeing any other symptoms (in other applications?) that would suggest heavy network traffic? Could your network techs do some traffic analysis to confirm or deny this?

One of MS Access's problems is the amount of network traffic it generates (all queries are run locally) so it needs a fast network to run well. I've never experienced any problems with Access on an overly-utilised network other than it running like a bag of spanners though.

One possible solution is to split the database into a frontend/backend. Let each user have their own copy of the frontend of their local drive. Backend sits on the network share. Frontend contains temporary tables that data is written to and then updates can be made in batches (the frequency would depend on the process your system supports). I realise this s far from ideal - it's nearly 5am here so my brain's not properly in gear!

Ed Metcalfe.

Please do not feed the trolls.....

 

[Larft]

Thanks Ed,

I'm familiar with the network issues that Access imposes and the use of the Front/back end.

Yes I also see issue with Word and Excel at times so I think it's symptomatic of our network usage. The Network Tech (singular) for an operation of over 100 users is the only remaining employee who was sold off to a support service, needless to say he's in deep, so getting an analysis of the network is not going to happen soon, they'll wait 'till go goes down on it's knees.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll have to do some planning to go the front/back route.

Have a good one!

Leo