Will My Access Database Do the Job

[TommyF]

We have a Front/back End Access Database that we use at the moment which supports about 15 users and it runs very slow. When we had about 7 users it worked ok.

If I was to convert the front end to VB.net but keep the back end as it is would this speed things up?

Would it cope with 15 users or would I be back to the same thing?

If so what do you recomend is MSDE an option?

Thanks

 

[neilharris]

Rewriting the front end in .NET should lead to a reasonable performance increase even with the back end the same. However upgrading the back end to MSDE at the same time would probably provide you with the most improvement.

 

[TommyF]

Thanks for the quick response and the comments.

Is MSDE limited to the number of users or records that it can hold as I have just tried to import my access database into it and it only seems to hold 10000 records and some of the table in access are bigger than that.

What I might do for the time being is change the front end to vb.net and use the access back end and see if it makes a difference and then at a later date change the back end. Do you think this is a good idea or just go the whole way and change the back nd at the same time?

Thanks again

 

[neilharris]

It's definately not a good idea if the back end has unexceptable limitations.

I've never heard anything about MSDE being limited by record count, there is a database size limitation but I can't remember what it is.

Have a look on Microsofts website for the technical specs for MSDE.

If it does what you need then it is probably worth upgrading both the front and back ends at the same time.

 

[chrissie1]

MSDE 5 concurrent users and 2 Gb of data
Access MDB 5 concurrent users and 2 Gb of data wich is easely avoided.

But if MSDE is a good option and ofcourse MySQL.

Christiaan Baes
Belgium

If you want to get an answer read this FAQ faq796-2540
There's no such thing as a winnable war - Sting

 

[chiph]

The biggest advantage of MSDE over Access is that it doesn't corrupt it's data store, requiring you to put a "repair DB" option in your app.

Chip H.


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If you want to get the best response to a question, please read FAQ222-2244 first

 

[TommyF]

Thank you all for your comments and I will have a look into all options.

 

[GaryWilsonCPA]

I am an experienced user with access, but would like to upgrade to msde. What books are a good source for a newby to msde?

 

[Golom]

TommyF

The 10,000 limit is a default that you can change.

Go to Options / Advanced and set "Default Max Records" to whatever you need. (You need an Access Data Project *.adp to do this. That option doesn't appear in an ordinary *.mdb Access Database.)

.Net may or may not improve your performance depending on what's causing the slowdown now. Access (i.e. Jet 4.0) tends to run out of gas in the 15-20 user vicinity for average transaction loads and VB.Net isn't going to have much impact if the problem is really in Jet.

As others have suggested, MSDE is a more appropriate platform for client-server applications and it allows you to prepare for a jump to SQL Server. You will probably get more bang for the buck performance improvement with a move from Access to MSDE than you will from rewriting the front end in VB.Net.