Does Access Support Concurrent Users?

[minofifa]

Hi everyone

I am trying to help a friend create a new work flow for his office. I would
like to build him a custom application that he and his employees can use to
access and manage their data. My question relates to how concurrent users
would access an Access database?

I was thinking of a creating an Access file that had data about their
customers, as well as internal links to other documents of the clients, a
main menu switchboard as a starting place, forms and reports, and automation.
I would then store this application (is it just an Access file) on the
office's server, and each employee could open the file and work from it.
What happens when all 5 employees are working from the file at once? what
happens if one person alters or creates data in the file? Can i restrict
some parts of the application to certain users? thanks a lot for any help.
Windows and Office is foreign ground for me.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Here's a response to the first question...

Out of the box, Access is designed to support multiple users.

However, having everyone trying to 'hit' the same file on the network at the
same time is almost surely guaranteed to result, sooner or later, in
corruption, and will degrade network performance and make
maintenance/upgrade difficult.

Instead, the common approach to building Access applications is to put all
the data in one Access database, out on your network. The rest (forms,
queries, etc.) goes into a second Access database.

Link that second Access database to the tables/data in the one on the
network. Then put a copy of that second db on EACH user's desktop/PC.

This is called "splitting", and reduces the problems noted above.

Good luck!

--

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Access MVP

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

Jeff given you a great answer.

I have an article that explains how to setup and use ms-access in a
multi-user environment:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal/Articles/split/index.htm

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

And to answer this part of the question:

Can i restrict some parts of the
application to certain users? thanks a lot for any help. Windows and
Office is foreign ground for me.

Yes, either create separate front-end applications for each user, or you
need to use the MDB format so that you can secure your database and give
permissions to each user. The second choice is by far better, but there's
more to learm. Here's where you can learn some security information:

Security FAQ
http://support.microsoft.com/download/support/mslfiles/SECFAQ.EXE

Lynn Trapp's summarization:
http://www.ltcomputerdesigns.com/The10Steps.htm

KB articles:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q165009
http://download.microsoft.com/download/access97/faq1/1/win98/en-us/secfaq.exe
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=325261

Joan Wild's articles:
http://www.jmwild.com/security02.htm
http://www.jmwild.com/security97.htm
http://www.jmwild.com/SecureNoLogin.htm
http://www.jmwild.com/Unsecure.htm

 

[minofifa]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the resources. I really appreciate it.

I have one more question, and this may induce many of you to ream me out for
being incredibly ignorant but...

I have been reading a bit about windows server 2008 but it seems to me that
a lot of the functions it provides can be more easily implemented using a
sophisticated router. Our project is small so things like DNS, WINS, DHCP
etc are overkill. I am leaning towards a solution where the office computers
are connected with a single router, and one will act as a file sever,
providing access to my MS Access backend. This server would probably only
need to run Windows 7. the server would also hold all of the office's excel
and word files (which would be accessed through the Access application via
separate front ends deployed on each user's computer.

Any advice would be much appreciated ( and I will be going through all of
the great resources provided so far). Thanks again.

 

[John W. Vinson]

I have been reading a bit about windows server 2008 but it seems to me that
a lot of the functions it provides can be more easily implemented using a
sophisticated router. Our project is small so things like DNS, WINS, DHCP
etc are overkill. I am leaning towards a solution where the office computers
are connected with a single router, and one will act as a file sever,
providing access to my MS Access backend. This server would probably only
need to run Windows 7. the server would also hold all of the office's excel
and word files (which would be accessed through the Access application via
separate front ends deployed on each user's computer.

This isn't really an Access question, but more of a Windows issue. You can
certainly use Windows Server 2008 for this purpose, but from your description
it's overkill: you could perfectly well use a peer to peer network of
computers running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, even Windows 98 if
you're stuck that far back. An Access database does NOT need to be "on a
Server" and you do not need to worry about DNS, etc. - the networking
capabilities of Windows can deal with all that for you.

Granted, if you want to get under the hood and set up group policies, control
your networking architecture, etc. you certainly can - my point is that it is
not *necessary* to do so in order to have a shared Access database.

 

[David W. Fenton]

I have been reading a bit about windows server 2008 but it seems
to me that a lot of the functions it provides can be more easily
implemented using a sophisticated router. Our project is small so
things like DNS, WINS, DHCP etc are overkill.

Um, you may not need a dedicated Windows server to act as DNS, WINS
and DHCP server, but your workstations do need at least DNS, and if
you're using dynamically-assigned IP addresses, there has to be a
DHCP server.

In general, your router (not your Windows server) would provide the
DHCP services, and DNS would be provided for the Internet via the
router.

For a peer-to-peer LAN, if you have no local DNS or WINS server to
keep track of the names and IP addresses of the machines inside your
local LAN, you will have to enabled NETBIOS over TCP/IP. That is
not, I believe, the default setting any longer. What it does is use
broadcast packets to figure out which machine name correspondes to
each TCP/IP address. In a small office network with a proper
firewall (your router probably acts as firewall, and if you're using
Network Address Translation (i.e., NAT), your local addresses are
unroutable and can't be reached from outside your router, anyway),
NETBIOS over TCP/IP is OK.

Without the local DNS and WINS servers, you won't be able to use
machine names, and will instead have to use IP addresses for the
workstations to communicate with each other.

I am leaning towards a solution where the office computers
are connected with a single router, and one will act as a file
sever, providing access to my MS Access backend.

This sounds fine, as long as you have your NETBIOS over TCP/IP
setting correct.

This server would probably only
need to run Windows 7.

Why? It could run any version of Windows workstation. While Windows
7 is quite a nice workstation OS, I'm not sure that it is a better
server, so I see no reason to privilege it over any other version.
If I had a choice between WinXP, Vista and Windows 7, I'd probably
put them in this order of descending desirability to function as
peer-to-peer server:

1. WinXP
2. Windows 7
3. Vista

The reason for Vista coming in last is that it's less efficient than
Windows 7, and because it has had problems with certain new
networking settings (they got them right in Windows 7, though).

Also, you need to consider the speed of the workstation (more CPU
cycles is better), the amount of RAM (more is better), and the disk
storage (more is better, faster drives are better). So, you might
end up with a sub-optimal choice on OS because the hardware is much
better on the machine with the newer OS.

the server would also hold all of the office's excel
and word files (which would be accessed through the Access
application via separate front ends deployed on each user's
computer.

This sounds right.

However, keep in mind that it's not ideal to be using a workstation
as a peer-to-peer server, particularly if that workstation gets
heavy use.

 

[John... Visio MVP]

I provide help with Access, Excel and Word applications for a small fee. I
could help you look at the forest and develop a strategy and
implementation that significantly improves the efficiency of the current
system. If you are interested, contact me.

Steve

So this is number eight of your pimping for today?

If you were so good at Excel and Word, why are you not pimping your services
there? Could it be that you have delusions of adaquecy?


These newsgroups are provided by Microsoft for FREE peer to peer support.
There are many highly qualified individuals who gladly help for free. Stevie
is not one of them, but he is the only one who just does not get the idea of
"FREE" support. He offers questionable results at unreasonable prices. If he
was any good, the "thousands" of people he claims to have helped would be
flooding him with work, but there appears to be a continuous drought and he
needs to constantly grovel for work.

A few gems gleaned from the Word New User newsgroup over the past Christmas
period and a few gems from the Access newsgroups to show Stevie's
"expertise".


Dec 17, 2008 7:47 pm

Word 2007 ..........
In older versions of Word you could highlght some text then go to Format -
Change Case and change the case of the hoghloghted text. Is this still
available in Word 2007? Where?
Thanks! Steve


Dec 22, 2008 8:22 pm

I am designing a series of paystubs for a client. I start in landscape and
draw a table then add columns and rows to setup labels and their
corresponding value. This all works fine. After a landscape version is
completed, I next need to design a portrait version. Rather than strating
from scratch, I'd like to be able to cut and paste from the landscape
version and design the portrait version.
Steve


Dec 24, 2008, 1:12 PM

How do you protect the document for filling in forms?
Steve


One of my favourites:
Dec 30, 2008 8:07 PM - a reply to stevie
(The original poster asked how to sort a list and stevie offered to create
the OP an Access database)

Yes, you are right but a database is the correct tool to use not a
spreadsheet.

Not at all. If it's just a simple list then a spreadsheet is perfectly
adequate...


Sept 10, 2009
(In respose to a perfectly adequate GENERIC solution stevie wrote)

This function is specific to the example but not generic for any amount paid
out.

Steve



Sept 9, 2009

you can then return all the characters in front of it with the Left()
fumction. Would look like:
Left("YourString",Instr("YourString","VbCr" Or "VbLf") - 1)

Steve

No, it would not look like

Left("YourString",Instr("YourString","VbCr" Or "VbLf") - 1)

First of all, the constants are vbCr and vbLf: no quotes around them. With
the quotes, you're looking for the literal strings.

Second, you can't Or together character constants like that. Even if you
could, Or'ing them together in the InStr function like that makes no sense
at all.



Sept 22,2009
Sorry Steve, even I can see that this is a useless answer. I made it pretty
clear that "CW259" is just ONE possible value for the control.

Hello David,

Open your report in design view and select txtOrderID. Open properties and
go to the Data tab. Put the following expression in the Control Source
property:

=IIF([chkActive],"CW259","(CW259)")

Steve

John... Visio MVP

 

[StopThisAdvertising]

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No-one wants you here... no-one needs you here...

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We warned him a thousand times... Sad, but he is not willing to stop
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oh yes... and sometimes he answers questions... indeed...
and sometimes good souls here give him credit for that...

==> We are totally 'finished' with $teve now...
==> Killfile 'StopThisAdvertising' and you won't see these mails....

 

[Philip Herlihy]

Awesome, thanks everyone for the resources. I really appreciate it.

I have one more question, and this may induce many of you to ream me out for
being incredibly ignorant but...

I have been reading a bit about windows server 2008 but it seems to me that
a lot of the functions it provides can be more easily implemented using a
sophisticated router. Our project is small so things like DNS, WINS, DHCP
etc are overkill. I am leaning towards a solution where the office computers
are connected with a single router, and one will act as a file sever,
providing access to my MS Access backend. This server would probably only
need to run Windows 7. the server would also hold all of the office's excel
and word files (which would be accessed through the Access application via
separate front ends deployed on each user's computer.

Any advice would be much appreciated ( and I will be going through all of
the great resources provided so far). Thanks again.

Not really an Access issue, but this topic came up in uk.comp.homebuilt
recently:

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk.comp.homebuilt/
browse_thread/thread/8e3dfc1a6231fb19?hl=en#

(rejoin url without spaces)

If you decide a server is better for you, look at Small Business Server
first. You'll see I thought even that overkill in the poster's
situation, good product though it is.

Phil, London

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

If you only have a few machines, you can certainly use a workstation as a
server. The advantage of a server, in addition to what you've mentioned is
that it controls logins and security. It can also direct backups of itself
and other machines on the network.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
http://www.accessmvp.com

 

[David W. Fenton]

An Access database does NOT need to be "on a
Server"

Not a dedicated file server, but if you put it on a workstation,
it's on a server -- the server service is something you can't turn
off in Windows Workstation, as a matter of fact.

and you do not need to worry about DNS, etc. - the networking
capabilities of Windows can deal with all that for you.

Er, in a situation where you're using your network for Internet
access and you have a router that acts as gateway to the Internet,
you can get by with pure TCP/IP networking with NETBIOS over TCP/IP
turned off, because you are connecting only to hosts defined in DSN
via the router.

But if you have NETBIOS over TCP/IP turned off, there is no name
resolver for the local workstations, so you either need to implement
a DNS (some routers can do it), or you need to turn on NETBIOS over
TCP/IP, or you need to put entries in the workstations' HOSTS files
that map the server name to its IP address (which would mean the
"server" workstation can't have a dynamic IP address, i.e., one
assigned via DHCP).

It's very easy to set up a network that works just fine for Internet
access that then won't be able to share files peer-to-peer. And the
lack of DNS is the reason -- the easiest solution is to sacrifice
pure TCP/IP by turning on NETBIOS over TCP/IP, but some folks are
loathe to do that because it's theoretically a security
vulnerability (though only on an improperly firewalled network).

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

Not a dedicated file server, but if you put it on a workstation,
it's on a server -- the server service is something you can't turn
off in Windows Workstation, as a matter of fact.

Well, you can, but shouldn't because it also stops the browser service:

Control Panel >>> Administrative Tools >>> Services >>> Server Service

Just right click and stop it, or disable it.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Well, you can, but shouldn't because it also stops the browser
service:

Control Panel >>> Administrative Tools >>> Services >>> Server
Service

Just right click and stop it, or disable it.

Back in NT4 days it broke a lot more than that -- I don't recall the
specifics.

Being a control freak, I wanted to shut down all services that I
considered unnecessary on my first NT-based workstation, and I
quickly figured out that the Server and the Remote Procedure Call
services were two that you couldn't get along without! The RPC
Locator is a different story...