Database gets locked without information in the ldb-file

[Larsson]

Hi!

I’m developing and administrating a big Access system with over 40
concurrent users/Access-sessions and more than 300 tables totaling 10 GB of
data. This system has been in use for over 10 years. We are using Access 2000
on a Windows 2003 Terminal Server, service pack 2. The Access system is split
with Front ends and Back ends and some connection to a MySQL server.

Recently something strange has started to happen. A database gets locked
(like when you open it to make design changes) without a clear reason. The
strange thing is that when this happens nothing is written in the ldb-file,
it’s like the ldb-file is no longer connected to the mdb-file.

If I use Process Explorer to examine the process that is looking the
database I see that the process only has a file handler to the mdb-file and
not the ldb-file. If I remove the handle then the lock is removed and
everything goes back to normal again.

When this happens to a database I can’t:
• Delete the ldb-file.
• Open the mdb-file.
• Use a table in the front end that is in the mdb-file.
In short, all access to the database is denied with the error “The database
is locked by another user.”.

This problem has increased in frequency, today it happened five or six times
with four different databases. I can’t ignored it anymore, if I don’t find a
solution I will have to migrate all tables to MySQL and that is a lot of work
that I don’t have time for.

 

[Crowley16]

you certainly should consider using a bigger database engine since access isn't designed for such large systems with so much concurrency...

I've seen something similar to this where a front end crash causes the backend to be stuck in read-only mode.

have you tried to do a compact and repair on all the front ends and the back end?

--------------------
Procrastinate Now!

 

[Larsson]

We have started to migrate to MySQL, but we don't have the time to do it all at once.

The thing is that the application that causes the database to lock doesn't crash. I can remove the file-handle and the user doesn't notice that I have done something.

I will do a complete compact and repair for both front ends and back ends.

There is one more thing. It seems like it only applications that has a connection to MySQL that causes this problem. So maybe it's something weird between Access and MySQL.