Access stability with multiple users?

[BrettS]

Would Access have stability if there were, say, 20 people in the database
entering information? Is there a limit to the number of people who can be
using the database at once?

Thanks for any help,
Brett

 

[John Spencer]

Yes, if properly designed there should be no problems with "stability". Would
you care to explain exactly what you mean by "stability"?

The absolute maximum is 255 simultaneous users. However, that is probably
higher than anyone should go with a strictly Access solution.

I know of Access-only databases that have 30 simultaneous users and have heard
of others with more users than that. They are well-designed. For instance,
all forms use queries as the record source and not tables and the queries
return only the records the user is currently working on. That means
significantly less network loading and less time retrieving records.

John Spencer
Access MVP 2002-2005, 2007-2008
The Hilltop Institute
University of Maryland Baltimore County

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Would Access have stability if there were, say, 20 people in the database
entering information? Is there a limit to the number of people who can be
using the database at once?

Officially, up to 255 users can access the database concurrently. That is
way too ambitious. I've had up to 53 concurrent users connecting to
different front-ends with up to 75 total connections, all to 1 back end.
There were no problems and no corruptions in the last 5 years we ran it.
Before then there were a number of recoverable corruptions from a bad air
card dropping connections.

 

[BrettS]

By stability I mean not crashing/corrupting when that many users are
currently using the database. I asked because someone had told me that only
8 people could conceivably use an Access database at once, which seemed
extremely incorrect to me, so I asked here. Thank you both for the
responses. I'm going to assume if I want this database to run smoothly, I'm
going to need to set up a front-end/back-end.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I'm going to assume if I want this database to run smoothly, I'm
going to need to set up a front-end/back-end.

Absolutely. I would indeed be very leery of having even eight users share the
same unitary database across a network. Even if you don't get corruption,
you'ld get bloating and bad performance; splitting is essential.

 

[Tom Wickerath]

This article should help you create a robust application, which if done
properly can certainly have more than 8 simultaneous users:

Implementing a Successful Multiuser Access/JET Application
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/articles/multiuser.htm

I wouldn't listen to too much more advice from the individual that picked
the number 8 out of thin air.


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
__________________________________________

 

[Larry Linson]

Absolutely. I would indeed be very leery of having even eight users share the
same unitary database across a network. Even if you don't get corruption,
you'ld get bloating and bad performance; splitting is essential.

Although I frequently caution that having multiple users logged in to the
same front-end or monolithic database significantly increases your chances
of corruption, there are people who have done so, and gone for months or
years without problem... but one day, some minor change "causes a
disturbance in the Force" and they show up here for help with frequent
corruption. We advise, they split, the Force is healed, and they don't have
additional problems. It has all happened with few users, and also with many.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP