Numbr of computers allowed on an XP Professional network

[Guest]

I am trying to find out what the maximum number of computers are that you can
run on a network using Windows XP professional - I can run 10 but not 11

 

[Bob Willard]

I am trying to find out what the maximum number of computers are that you can
run on a network using Windows XP professional - I can run 10 but not 11

There is no limit to the number of PCs in a workgroup. There are limits to
the number of concurrent inbound connections to a PC: 5 for XP HE/MC, and 10
for XP PRO.

 

[Guest]

Rob, I'm a bit of a babe in the woods - I run a small business using MS
Access - I have one computer in a peer to peer network designated as a
"server", and a number of others that access the MSAcess databases on it.
Each "workstation" has a copy of MS Access, and the in house database front
end installed - they then access the required data databases on the server.
Until I added the 11th computer everything was fine - but now the system
won't allow all computers access to the server at the same time. Is there
anyway I can set things up so that this problem can be overcome, or do I need
to move to a formal server with server type software to allow the additional
computer(s).

Thanks for you response.

Phil (alias the curryking- my son's moniker)

 

[Malke]

Rob, I'm a bit of a babe in the woods - I run a small business using
MS Access - I have one computer in a peer to peer network designated
as a "server", and a number of others that access the MSAcess
databases on it. Each "workstation" has a copy of MS Access, and the
in house database front end installed - they then access the required
data databases on the server. Until I added the 11th computer
everything was fine - but now the system
won't allow all computers access to the server at the same time. Is
there anyway I can set things up so that this problem can be overcome,
or do I need to move to a formal server with server type software to
allow the additional computer(s).

I'm not Rob but you are running into the inbound connections limitation.
This has nothing to do with the number of computers in the Workgroup.
The limitation is not on *computers* but *connections* and each
computer can make more than one connection to your pseudo-server.

If the pseudo-server is simply acting as a file server (not actively
running Windows programs), you could replace it with a Linux operating
system which does not have the inbound connection limitation. If you
are running Windows programs and/or don't have the support you would
need for Linux then you need to install a Microsoft server operating
system and set up a domain. You will have all the benefits of more
security, centralized management of workstations, and centralized data
backup (if you aren't doing that already). Small Business Server would
suit your needs admirably. All workstations need to be running XP Pro
to be members of the domain.

Here is information about the inbound connections limit:
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=314882

concurrent connections:

10 for XP Pro/Tablet/MCE
5 for XP Home
49 for SBS 2000
74 for SBS 2003
Unlimited for full Server O/Ses

Malke

 

[Guest]

Malke,

Thanks for that. Currently the machine designated as a server is used as a
work station as well. Last night we tried to install a Linux server but ran
into problems with MS access ldb (lock) files. I have set up the network in
such a way that I have an access mdb file for each of my clients (approx 170
files in all), and a central generic mdb that contains data common to all
clients. When the database is opened on a workstation it accesses the
generic mdb (creating a ldb file) and then opens the relevent client mdb
(also creating an ldb file for it). When the operator moves to a new client
the programme cuts the table links to the old client, and creates links to
the relevent table in the new client mdb. Apparently, when using XP it
treats all access to the databases as coming from one user, so we could have
up to 9 users all accessing the various tables without any problems.
However, with Linux, each work station is identifed as a separate user with a
requiremetn for the creation of another ldb file so we could get one work
station running. When we tried to start up another we encountered an error
caused by the fact that there was already an ldb created for the generic mdb,
and apparently only one is allowed. It was the feeling of the person
helping me that we may need to convert the client and generic mdbs to another
database format (e.g mySql ) to get around the problem. Obviously I would
prefer to avoid that. You mention the use of Microsoft small business
server - are there limitations (licensing or otherwise) with regard to the
number of workstations that can access the server? I currently have a need
for 11 workstations, but this could increase by the middle of the year to 15
or more.

Thanks for your help

Phil