[AccessD] OT (Slightly) Using Windows Server with Access Database

Tom

..very briefly

..Windows Server 2003 is a different product than Windows Terminal Server 
which I assume is what you meant by your use of "Windows Server".

..Windows Server 2003 (WS3) is a network OS designed to centrally manage a 
local area network of normal PCs ...Windows Terminal Server (WTS) is a 
program designed to run applications on a central server such as WS3 and 
communicate queries/results to/from "dumb" terminals or normal PCs.

..in a normal gigabit network w/15 users like you describe the response 
delays and network traffic load generated by any reasonably well designed 
Access FE/BE application is going to be an absolutely minimal consideration 
..the server hardware is more likely to be a source of delays than the 
network

..WTS would provide very hard centralized management and control of user 
systems but requires a much faster cpu and hd than WS3 itself does ...DBA's 
tend to love it because it gives them back the control that they lost when 
mainframes became obsolete in most companies ...users tend to hate it once 
used to working in a normal PC environment ...accountants tend to like it 
(on everyone else's systems but their own) because it can mean lower 
hardware costs depending upon a lot of factors.

..other than that, WTS operational advantages over a normal split FE/BE 
Access mdb in your environment would be minimal in my opinion ...WTS will 
not fix your file locking problems ...you can upgrade to AccessXP or higher 
where single file locking is available or move to a SQL Server BE ...but 
ime, most file locking problems are design related rather than system 
..even in A97 a well designed mdb would have minimal file locks ...there 
are a number of ways to address such problems and a search of this list's 
archives would almost certainly detail the pros/cons of each.

..hth :)

William Hindman


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Keatley" <tom at rbbs.net.au>
To: "Access Developers discussion and problem solving" 
<accessd at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 6:27 PM
Subject: [AccessD] OT (Slightly) Using Windows Server with Access Database


> Hi All....
>
> I currently use Access in a network of some 15 PC's with a single PC 
> acting
> as the backend or server and all other PC's having their own frontend. 
> These
> are all part of a Gigabit network with Cat5 cable.
>
> It has been suggested to me that we should swap over to Windows Server and
> run all the pc's as "dumb" terminals as this will alleviate the hefty data
> loads we drag accross the network and will also fix some of the file 
> locking
> problems that (occasionally) pop up with the current system.
>
> Could I start a discussion with you guys on this subject as I know
> absolutely NOTHING about Windows Server .....having never even seen it
> running....about the pros and cons?
>
> All input would be gratefully recieved
>
> REgards
>
> Tom Keatley
>
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