Access 2007 unusable over network

[CMoya]

Access 2007 seems to have severe (severe!!!) performance problems with mdb's
over a network. Over VPN it's downright unusable. It doesn't matter if the
mdb is upgraded or not... and it happens on both XP and Vista and on
different machines. I expected the Office Suite SP1 to address this issue,
but it did not. This must be a known issue, no? Is there a workaround? (no,
we're not upgrading to ADP or going to use replication).

Access 2000,2002,2003 all work great.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

The only way that Access can be used over a VPN is with a web server against
a JET database, or a Terminal Server. This has always been the case. On a
LAN, however, it is extremely responsive. The first place to check for the
problem might be to turn off the AntiVirus and see if that helps. If not,
run perfmon.exe and see where the network problem is.

 

[CMoya]

Not so. Access 2000 and 2002 run just fine over VPN against an mdb- over a
1.4mbps(!) T1 connection no less. Access 2007 is downright unsuable against
the same exact mdb file over the same connection. So, NO, this has not
"always been the case."

 

[CMoya]

Not so. Sorry. Access 2000 and 2002 run just fine against this mdb... over a
1.5mbps connection using VPN no less. Access 2007, however, is downright
unusable against the same mdb and on the same connection. So, NO, this has
not "always been the case."

This has been tested using several machines using both XP and Vista. It's
Access 2007 and ONLY Access 2007.

Next?

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

Next you drop the passive-agressive attitude and become your own
cheery old self again, with the constructive attitude you are known
for in better days. It will get you a lot further with the volunteers
in this and other newsgroups.
Or you open a trouble ticket with MSFT.

-Tom.

 

[Arvin Meyer [MVP]]

I'm sorry. I'm so used to sub 1 second response on my LAN, that I forgot
there are others who are satisfied with less.

One other thing that you may look into (besides your AntiVirus program) is
whether you have more than 1 version Access on your machine. For some reason
Access 2007 takes several minutes to load if the machine has been running
Access 2003 or earlier. Once the session has loaded, however, the response
time should be only slightly slower.
--
Arvin Meyer, MCP, MVP
http://www.datastrat.com
http://www.mvps.org/access
http://www.accessmvp.com

 

[Robert Howie]

stick with what works. why the rush to use access 2007?

 

[Darian was here.]

I'm running Access 2007 with 10-15 users and am having no problems. The
database is on a 2003 Server and the clients machines are using the Access
2007 runtime. Works beautiful.

I had to respond because Access 2007 has really been good to me so far and I
don't want the whole world to think it's not usable over a network.

 

[CMoya]

Sorry for the doublepost.

Not so. Sorry. Access 2000 and 2002 run just fine against this mdb... over
a 1.5mbps connection using VPN no less. Access 2007, however, is downright
unusable against the same mdb and on the same connection. So, NO, this has
not "always been the case."

This has been tested using several machines using both XP and Vista. It's
Access 2007 and ONLY Access 2007.

Next?

 

[CMoya]

Fresh install. No other version of Access on this machine. Our VPN
connection is slow.... I know that.... but versions prior to Access 2007
could utililize it just fine. Access 2007 is doing something... I don't know
what. And it's not due to any particular machine setup. It happens on
multiple machines whether it be XP or Vista.

Even restoring iit from minimized state causes it to hit the network and
pause for 10 seconds. I'm looking into using replication as a workaround.

 

[CMoya]

Thanks for the dress down. I didn't think I was being passive-agressive.
Only matter-of-fact.

 

[CMoya]

No rush. Simply just of our newer machines come with Office 2007
preinstalled.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Over VPN it's downright unusable.

Nobody but an idiot runs an Access app connected to Jet over a
non-LAN wired connection. That is, if you have less than 10Mbps of
bandwidth, you're just wasting your time.

Well, sure, you could spend many days of programming time rewriting
your front end to use unbound forms and opening and closing
connections to the back end. But that's just a waste of time when
it's so much easier to provide accessibility across a WAN via
Windows Terminal Server.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Access 2000 and 2002 run just fine against this mdb.

I don't believe you.

 

[David W. Fenton]

Even restoring iit from minimized state causes it to hit the
network and pause for 10 seconds. I'm looking into using
replication as a workaround.

Don't. Replication is never the correct solution to performance
problems.

You should never have been running an Access/Jet app across a
1.5Mbps connection in any case. That you got away with it was just
pure luck.

 

[Tom van Stiphout]

Thanks for not taking my comments the wrong way.

Tell us a bit more:
You're using MDB format, right?
Did you convert to A2007 MDB, or are you running A2002/03 format for
the FE?
Let's keep the VPN users out of the discussion for a moment - tell us
more about your LAN clients. You did split between front-end (FE) and
back-end (BE), yes?
Do you generally follow best practices?
Do you open a connection to the BE for the duration of the session?
All A2007 users have SP1 installed?
If the Northwind sample application were split in FE/BE (you can do
this yourself in minutes), would it be slow as well?

-Tom.

 

[CMoya]

Don't. Replication is never the correct solution to performance
problems.

You should never have been running an Access/Jet app across a
1.5Mbps connection in any case. That you got away with it was just
pure luck.

These aren't large or complicated mdb's. They're small and simple files. No
matter what size- a few k's- Access 2007 seems to be doing something that
2000 & 2002 doesn't do. And the slowness isn't just "slow"... it's unusable.
It takes 2 minutes just for Access to load the mdb. And every action or
lookup can take up to 30 seconds. This doesn't happen with 2000 or 2002
which is completely usable over the same connection.

 

[CMoya]

Thanks for not taking my comments the wrong way.

Tell us a bit more:
You're using MDB format, right?
Yes

Did you convert to A2007 MDB, or are you running A2002/03 format for
the FE?

Tried all. Same performance.
..

Let's keep the VPN users out of the discussion for a moment - tell us
more about your LAN clients.

Nothing special. 100mbit to a regular Windows 2000 Server file server.

You did split between front-end (FE) and
back-end (BE), yes?

This are simple mdbs. Not large or complicated. Very very small. Meant to
keep track of small sets of data- for instance, data formerly tracked in
Excel. It doesn't matter if the mdb contains startup forms or simply starts
up in simple tables view.

Looks like we'll have to go back to Excel for storing these small sets of
data... or we just ask Office 2007 users to 'remote' into their desktops.
It's a shame because this is exactly what Access is intended and suited for.

Do you generally follow best practices?
Do you open a connection to the BE for the duration of the session?

Usually there's a form always open... and the ldb is always created.

All A2007 users have SP1 installed?

Yes. The problem existed before and after SP1.

If the Northwind sample application were split in FE/BE (you can do
this yourself in minutes), would it be slow as well?

I just tried this. Just as unusable even after the split. Put the BE on file
server (across VPN) and the FE local. Over 2 minute for it to load to the
login screen. About 10 minutes after that. Completely unusable.

 

[Pete D.]

I think you need to go back to the beginning and check settings, check Allen
Brown's site for performance suggestions. Whenever I have changed versions
little things like default settings have kicked in and ate my lunch. I'm
sure you or someone has tweaked this (your before 2007 version) over the
years and maybe it is something simple, like the click of a check box. If
not you will aide all by getting to the bottom of it as others may have the
same problems. I note that you said your new machines... maybe you have a
problem related to old machines and new. Did the new machines have
different security, software, patches. I stop way short of saying it didn't
work before, think you need to go back to the beginning and basics. It
worked before, what changed besides the version. New machines, different
options, user profiles on new machines, even network cards with new drivers.
Start from step one, compare each system setup to the old ones and see if
you can find the difference.

 

[CMoya]

I understand what you're saying... and will try and follow that track
(settings, etc). But this has happened (to me) both when upgrading to Access
2007 (from 2002) and a fresh Access 2007 install... which suggests (on the
surface) this might be the wrong path because the upgrade should have picked
up the previous version's settings. Furthermore, I don't think other users
besides me have tweaked their Access 2000/2002 settings. Everything I've
seen pretty much has me convinced that this is due to something that Access
2007 is doing "different." I don't know what that could be.

I will play around with my '07 settings (I already tried the Filter Lookup
option and that had no effect).