Disappearing data

[judith]

I recently had a problem with a database loosing its focus. The data sits on
the server and the front ends sit in the users personal folder on the server.
The data was restored and then some front ends but not all were missing some
pieces of information although the data was OK in the data file. So a screen
showing address and tel number was missing the tel number, although other
people could see it OK and it was fine in the data file. Copying over a new
copy of the front end seemed to solve the problem but I would really like to
know what happened and how to avoid this in the future.
While all the machines run 2000 a couple of laptops have been added to the
system with Vista and Access 2007 although they normally log on remotely, is
this an issue

Could you also please tell me how many concurrent users Access 2000 supports
comfortably and is the number increased if i move to 2007
Thanks

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

The only way that a front-end should ever sit on a server is if it is in a
user's personal folder and that user is logging in using Terminal Services.
On a LAN, use each workstation for the front-end copies.

The number of concurrent users in the specifications for either 2000 or 2007
is 255. That is unrealistic for users actively writing to the database.
Depending upon the intensity of the writing (like appending or updating
multiple records at once) the actual number of users could be as few as 2.
For a well designed application, the most common number referenced is 20. I
have had as many as 75 concurrent users, about 2 dozen of which were
actively writing, and I would have felt comfortable with another 25 mostly
reading. It really depends upon the application. If you start having locking
problems, or continual corruption, it's time to make sure your network is in
tip-top shape, and possibly move to SQL-Server as a back-end.

 

[judith]

Are you saying that the front end should be physically on the user PC and not
in their My docs folder which is on the server? It is much easier to issue
updates if the files are on the server.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Keep a copy on the server so that users can copy it down to their
workstations as necessary. It can be as simple as an email, or you can use
an application to check the version and download if new:

http://www.datastrat.com/Download/Starter.zip
or:
http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
http://www.accessmvp.com