ms access over vpn

[SAC]

I'm considering setting up a frontend/backend over a vpn.

Has anyone had success with this?

If so, how much bandwidth is recommended?

Thanks.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

You can read up on this here:

http://www.members.shaw.ca/AlbertKallal//Wan/Wans.html

You can't really do this reliability. And, speed wise.....anything less then
about 4 mbit is not much workable...

 

[Ken Snell [MVP]]

Not recommended... very slow. Better to use Remote Desktop, Citrix, or other
terminal services type of setup.

 

[SAC]

So, if I understand this correctly ms access front end with a sql server
backend might work ok?

 

[SAC]

So it looks like this article is saying that an access frontend with a sql
server backend might work...

What do you think about this?

Thanks.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

So, if I understand this correctly ms access front end with a sql server
backend might work ok?

Yes, this is workable, but you MUST pay attention to the records that load
into forms.

I mean, it is really silly to simply launch a form to a large table, and NOT
have any restrictions in the records brought into that table. It is probably
worth stating that it is bad practice to simply load up a form to a large
table in ms-access even when you do NOT use sql server...so this kind of
thing needs not much to be said. However, your application DOES need to be
written writhe caution in terms of transferring as little data as possible.

So, if you got good experience with sql server, and also have good designs
where you pull a MIN of records into a form, then you can most certainly
use a vpn connection over the web to sql server.

If you don't want to re-designs, or you currently have a non optimized
application in terms of performance, then remote desktop (terminal services)
would be the best choice, as then no software need be re-written...

 

[Ken Snell [MVP]]

Albert is more of an expert at these network things than I....

 

[SAC]

Thanks. I'll do aome testing and see how optimized I can make. I really
appreciate your input. At least it's worth a test.

 

[SAC]

Thanks, Ken. I appreciate your input. I may decide to use terminal
services or citrix. First I'll test the app with a sql backend.

Thanks again.

 

[Tony Toews]

So it looks like this article is saying that an access frontend with a sql
server backend might work...

What do you think about this?

A fellow MVP has stated he's had adequate response time with a very
optimized app over a modem connection to a SQL Server backend. Not
great but adequate. YMMV of course.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

 

[Albert Marshall]

Thanks, Ken. I appreciate your input. I may decide to use terminal
services or citrix. First I'll test the app with a sql backend.

I recently wrote an Access app that was used over a fairly slow WAN by
offices hundreds of miles apart. It front-ended a SQL Server DB and only
used pass-through queries to pass its data, including populating a local
table to allow me to use a continuous subform. This was only used to
hold the current set of child records.

The whole thing was quite code-intensive because I was passing data back
& forth, rather than using bound forms, but I had no complaints about
response times.

 

[J. Clay]

We have an application (ADP) on SQL Server 2000 that will run over a VPN.
The primary form recordsets are from stored procedures that return a single
record. To do this I had to write my own navigation, but it works very well
and it has the added benefit of not needing to worry about the Mouse Wheel.

J. Clay