WAN speed issue

[Guest]

Hello,

I have an Access Aplication that I designed & it currently resides on a
Server here in our office & has other offices from different locations
accessing it via a WAN.

The problem is the speed. From the other locations the speed is VERY VERY
slow to the point of making it unusable.

I am unfortunatly not a Networking person. So I contacted someone from IT
in this office & he said...

"The network response is the same as its being since its been install.
Unitization stats for both site WAN circuits are fine. The application is
more likely design for a LAN environment and not via WAN which means
you are going to have to look into the application design base on bytes or
packet types. In addition,
to re-sync the database."

Is their anyone who could give me any feedback on possible ways, Access
changes, (if any) to help speed up the database.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jeff

 

[Immanuel Sibero]

Hi Jeff,

Your IT person is probably right. You shouldn't run Access on a WAN. You
might want to consider:

- Terminal Server
- Replication

I would seriously consider Terminal Server.


HTH,
Immanuel Sibero

 

[etarhan]

The first that can be said is that your IT person is right. In a LAN
environment, bits and bytes move at a speed of 10, 100 or possibly 1000
megabits per second. Ýn a wan, the speed is principally limited by your
connection speed, which can be anything between 256 kilobits to 2 megabits,
possibly 4.

Therefore you are doomed to slowdown when connected through WAN.

Second thing that can be said is that did you separate your database into
front- and back-ends? If not, then you should do it immediately. Having only
data moving on the wires is really much much better than starting a remotely
located program and forcing everything including the form and query data to
go back and forth between two computers is simply a waste of bandwidth. This
is true even on a LAN. Separation of two ends is extremely easy, as there is
a wizard in Access to do this.

The third possibility to speed up things is to use a terminal server on the
main office and have the users to log on to it to run the program. This way,
program is running on the main computer and only the really necessary
thiþngs are moving on the byte. Still, you have to separate database into a
front- and a back-end.

Good luck,

Engin

 

[Guest]

Hi Immanuel,

Thank you for your response.

Can you briefly explain what you ment by "Replication" ?

Thank you,
Jeff

 

[RSC]

Just for expediency sake, try saving the MDB as an MDE
and have someone try accessing it over the WAN. You'll
notice a significant decrease in load time.

 

[Immanuel Sibero]

Jeff,

There is a reason why I put Terminal Server as the first option, and why I
recommend it. I have not used replication, and from the newsgroup, you can
tell that replication is not for the faint of heart. It is for someone bold
enough to tackle the challenges.

Replication is basically creating multiple "smart copies" (i.e. replicas) of
your database, and then distributing these "replicas" among your branches.
This way each branch would have its own local database. Periodically, you
would synchronize these replica databases. I think your IT guy kinda sorta
alluded to this when he mentioned "synch" or "resynch" the database.

Anyway, investigate both "Terminal Service" and "Replication". I think you
would agree that you would want to give "Terminal Service" a shot first.
Another reason for Terminal Service, you already have the infrastructure to
do it with (the WAN). One other big reason, a lot of people here (the mvp's
and experts) would swear by Terminal Service.

HTH,
Immanuel Sibero

 

[Guest]

Hi Immanuel, I agree with going with TS.

I just never heard of "Repliaction" so I was curious as to what u ment by it.

Thank you VERY much for the Explanation and your help.

Best Regards,
Jeff

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your response & help !!

The first that can be said is that your IT person is right. In a LAN
environment, bits and bytes move at a speed of 10, 100 or possibly 1000
megabits per second. Ãn a wan, the speed is principally limited by your
connection speed, which can be anything between 256 kilobits to 2 megabits,
possibly 4.

Therefore you are doomed to slowdown when connected through WAN.

Second thing that can be said is that did you separate your database into
front- and back-ends? If not, then you should do it immediately. Having only
data moving on the wires is really much much better than starting a remotely
located program and forcing everything including the form and query data to
go back and forth between two computers is simply a waste of bandwidth. This
is true even on a LAN. Separation of two ends is extremely easy, as there is
a wizard in Access to do this.

The third possibility to speed up things is to use a terminal server on the
main office and have the users to log on to it to run the program. This way,
program is running on the main computer and only the really necessary
thiþngs are moving on the byte. Still, you have to separate database into a
front- and a back-end.

Good luck,

Engin

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your response & help !!

Just for expediency sake, try saving the MDB as an MDE
and have someone try accessing it over the WAN. You'll
notice a significant decrease in load time.