Access interacting with Citrix Metaframe ?

[Tony Epton]

I usually do the front end / back end split as recommended and in
addition often have a work database down on the user workstation as
well.

This makes it easy to avoid users walking over each other with report
temporary tables and mail merge tables.

Does all this fall in a heap if my client uses Citrix or does it have
some elegant way of emulating the client machine / server structure.

If I should be posting this to a Citrix group can someone point me in
the right direction please.

Many thanks
Tony Epton

 

[John Vinson]

Does all this fall in a heap if my client uses Citrix or does it have
some elegant way of emulating the client machine / server structure.

I've got two clients using Citrix with split databases. The only way
I've found that works well is to have NOTHING on the client (user)
machine except the Citrix client.

Each user connects, via Citrix, to a private folder on a machine on
the same fast LAN as the Citrix Server and the databases. Their copy
of the frontend is in this private folder (again, on a server-side
machine), linked to the backend; in these cases, the front and
backends are on the same physical machine but I don't expect that
would make much difference.

Having the Access frontend on one side of the CITRIX connection, and
the backend on the other, is extremely slow and runs a big risk of
database corruption!

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[david epsom dot com dot au]

Having the Access frontend on one side of the CITRIX connection, and

the backend on the other, is extremely slow and runs a big risk of
database corruption!

I'm sorry to hear that. In the late 90's I had a client who ran an
A97 database for two years from the west coast to the east coast
using Citrix VPN parallel to Citrix metaframe. Files where on a
Novell server. I did data cleansing from Melbourne. The Perth people
used to do only a couple of records a day using dialup speeds, and
the Melbourne people were on a 1M link. The Access database was used
in parallel with an IBM system during the switch over to a SQL Server
system. In two years of national multi-user linked table use, no
corruption.

(david)

 

[John Vinson]

I'm sorry to hear that. In the late 90's I had a client who ran an
A97 database for two years from the west coast to the east coast
using Citrix VPN parallel to Citrix metaframe. Files where on a
Novell server. I did data cleansing from Melbourne. The Perth people
used to do only a couple of records a day using dialup speeds, and
the Melbourne people were on a 1M link. The Access database was used
in parallel with an IBM system during the switch over to a SQL Server
system. In two years of national multi-user linked table use, no
corruption.

David, you say the files were on a Novell server. Did you have the
frontend and the backend on the same server? Or by "parallel" do you
mean that you had an Access frontend database in Melbourne interacting
with an Access backend in Perth? If so... I'm impressed indeed and
will need to reinvestigate!

John W. Vinson[MVP]

 

[david epsom dot com dot au]

The Front End's were all local, on Windows 95 or 97. I don't know
what Metaframe was used for, but it wasn't for the Access database
- probably for some of the mini-computer screens. Only in the last
3 months the Access FE was moved to Sydney, and the Perth/Melbourne
people used Metaframe. Never more than 5 users.

this was of course a97/jet 3.5/novell/citrix

It was never intended to be a long term solution. BTW, at the
same time I remember hearing about or meeting a guy who was
supporting a linked table application Aus/NZ. He said that it
was slow: starting up took half an hour. (He was the only user).


(david)