[AccessD] Access crashing on Citrix

Hi all,

  We have a client who is using an Access 2000 db on Citrix.  The Citrix
environment is NT 4, Service pack 6A.  I don't understand all the specifics,
but the hoster has two load balanced servers, I'll call A and B.  The last
couple months, we have been seeing people unable to open Access, usually in
the afternoon.

1. All access apps are affected, not just ours.  A message will come up
saying that the file can't be found.  Again, I don't know all the specifics,
but the way the hoster installs Access it is like all users are sharing a
copy of the Access program.  When one user's Access crashes, all do.  We
haven't yet been able to determine the point of the failure.
2. If Access crashes on server A, the user can be switched to server B and
work fine.  Also, if server A's Access isn't working, the user can try
logging in and out of Citrix until they log into server B, which will be
working.  All users on Server A will need to leave Access to get Access
working again on server A.  Sometimes this is the case for server B.
3. No one we know of has seen Access just fail as they were using it.  It
has either been the user unable to log on, or leaving the app open for a
while, and coming back and finding it not working.
4. The Citrix environment has been set to disconnect a user after 4 hours of
inactivity, and to log them out after 10 more minutes.
5. This app has been hosted for a couple years, but we have been seeing this
problem only in the last few months.  This coincides with an increase in the
number of users.  There may be as many as 20 at one time.  I don't think
number of users is the problem.

I suspect that there is a problem when someone leaves the app open for a
while.  We aren't getting db corruption, just Access failure.  I was talking
to the tech at the hoster, and we don't think the problem is tied to someone
being kicked out after 4 hours, but we're not sure.

Any advice?

TIA


Mark Whittinghill
Symphony Information Services
612-333-1311
mwhittinghill at symphonyinfo.com