MSDE vs. Access for website

[Birdman]

Hi: I am developing a website that will have a few pages
that access a database (Access or MSDE). Currently it is
Access. The data base is about 50MB with about 1000
records, 4 tables. Pretty simple. The website might see a
couple thousand hits a day and the database might see
many hitting at the same approximate time. The data base
will be "read only" and the access for query should be
split second, but there is still the chance that several
people may still want to access info at the exact same
moment. Is it best to convert to MSDE or will Access hold
out. I read that 2-5 simultaneous users is the max for
Access. How does one calculate just what the impact is to
a read only database. I would just as soon stick with
Access if I can.

Thanks for the help.

 

[GVaught]

If you expect to get that many hits, you may want to consider SQL Server.
There may be some limitations on using the MSDE for web access. I would
check first before switching.

You could use Access to see how it performs under that load since it is only
read only, but keep the thought of SQL Server in the wings.

 

[Michael M.]

I am developing a web-based online event registration
application for that has similar requirements to Birdman's
(about 20 MB in size with about 1,000 records) and I am
also trying to decide whether we can use Access for the
database. We anticipate getting around 200-300 hits on
the application per day with possibly 4-5 simultaneous
users at any given time. The main difference with our
situation from Birdman's is that instead of read-only
access, there will be some transmittal of data involved
via web-based forms.

If anyone out there has used Access for this type of
application, how did it hold up? Are we setting ourselves
up for disaster, or will Access be able to handle this
kind of traffic?

Thanks for any info you can provide.