How bad is Access?

[dischord13]

Hello everyone,
What kind of problems does Access have? If 10 users log on at the same time,
will the database explode? I wanted to find out exactly how many users it would
take to cause a problem and what kind of problem does it cause?

Also, if I start on Access then move on to a more powerful database in the
future... is it very difficult to change my connection from Access to SQL
Server or something like that? Or does that involve re-making many parts of my
site? I intend to use ASP.net and am wondering what is the best way to go.

Thanks
James

[Joe Makowiec]

On 23 Apr 2005 in macromedia.dreamweaver.appdev, dischord13 wrote:

> What kind of problems does Access have?

Other than bloated datafiles and what I consider a counterintuitive
interface?

> If 10 users log on at the same time,
> will the database explode? I wanted to find out exactly how many
> users it would take to cause a problem and what kind of problem does
> it cause?

There are limitations as to the number of concurrent users. Why not
round up a bunch of people and stress-test it? Microsoft claims that
the maximum number of concurrent connections is 255[1]; I've seen
other numbers that suggest lower. Remember, though, that 'concurrent
users' means an active data connection. If I visit your page and draw
the data then sit and look at it, I'm not a concurrent user until I go
back for more data. Look at your raw log files and see how hard
you're getting hit.

> Also, if I start on Access then move on to a more powerful database
> in the future... is it very difficult to change my connection from
> Access to SQL Server or something like that? Or does that involve
> re-making many parts of my site? I intend to use ASP.net and am
> wondering what is the best way to go.

From what I understand, absent a little tinkering with the SQL, Access
databases scale really well to SQL Server.

One other suggestion I've seen for performance is to use DSN-Less
connections rather than system DSN. It's apparently faster and more
efficient because of fewer system calls.

[1] [url]http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnacc2k/html/acmsdeop.asp[/url]
--
Joe Makowiec
[url]http://makowiec.net/[/url]
Email: [url]http://makowiec.net/email.php[/url]

[Joe Makowiec]

On 23 Apr 2005 in macromedia.dreamweaver.appdev, dischord13 wrote:

> What kind of problems does Access have?

<snip>

Further treatment on the topic:
[url]http://www.15seconds.com/issue/010514.htm[/url]

--
Joe Makowiec
[url]http://makowiec.net/[/url]
Email: [url]http://makowiec.net/email.php[/url]

[dischord13]

Great feedback. Thanks Joe.