Albert Kallal's article WAN w/Access

[JIM]

I need help understanding our network setup. The company database will be
split and the 2 users that commonly use the Access on the server(contains
the BE) are hard wired to the server. Four other laptops have a wireless VPN
connection. I'm told that's like a LAN over a LAN. Talking to our computer
tech, he said
there wouldn't be a problem with data transmission-it's just very slow. But
I just read Albert Kallal's article "Using a wan with ms-access? How fast,
how far?" In it he says, "Using the internet to build a wan is usually
referred to as a VPN." He then goes on in detail to explain how bad a wan
connection can be. I'm not that familiar with all the network jargon to know
if I'm on the right path. Are there any problems with data corruption with
this a wireless setup? Can I just set up operations so that the two
hard-wired users
are the only ones to update tables and the laptops are to view reports only?
TIA

 

[golfinray]

Any time there is a break in signal there is a possibility of corruption. So
if someone were transmitting over the internet and all of a sudden your
connection went down, it could introduce funky stuff into your database. I
think the key would be to make good and frequent backups of the FE and BE and
I think you would be ok. The wireless users should be able to work also as
the wireless connections nowadays are usually excellent. If you do use vpn,
as Albert said (I have read his article also) it may be slow but they should
still be able to work.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

all of a sudden your
connection went down, it could introduce funky stuff into your database.

Well, a broken connection wouldn't introduce funky stuff into the
database unless the Access app was in the middle of doing an
update/write/delete to the database

I
think the key would be to make good and frequent backups of the FE and BE and
I think you would be ok. The wireless users should be able to work also as
the wireless connections nowadays are usually excellent. If you do use vpn,
as Albert said (I have read his article also) it may be slow but they should
still be able to work.

No. Access uses a lot of network bandwidth as Jet/ACE is a file
based system. In a local network with 100 mpbs or faster this isn't
a problem. But over a slow speed WAN (10 mpbs or slower) this is a
problem. In which case we suggest Terminal Server/Citrix or SQL
Server.

Tony

 

[JIM]

Thanks for your reply Tony. The company is using a Buffalo Terastation
server and I've got to make it work -that's not going to change. If the
company felt they needed the men in the field to access the database, and if
deemed cost effective then it might change in the future. It sounds like the
safest route would be as I mentioned before and that is to allow the two
users that are hard-wired to the server to do all the input and editing to
the database and only allow viewing of reports on the field. Does that sound
do-able?
TIA

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Thanks for your reply Tony. The company is using a Buffalo Terastation
server and I've got to make it work -that's not going to change. If the
company felt they needed the men in the field to access the database, and if
deemed cost effective then it might change in the future. It sounds like the
safest route would be as I mentioned before and that is to allow the two
users that are hard-wired to the server to do all the input and editing to
the database and only allow viewing of reports on the field. Does that sound
do-able?

Yes, if folks on the WAN aren't doing any updating this will greatly
reduce the chances of a corruption. Note that this may be quite slow
but at least it should work.

You may also see a bunch of Disk or Network Errors in which case the
users will have to exit the FE MDB/ACCDE completely and restart.

Tony

 

[JIM]

Thanks Milton for your response. At first the wireless users will only look
at reports and use queries. Eventually I'll try to let them do more and more
and see how it all works. At this point it's not necessary for them to
update info in database. I really appreciate this forum and the time you
took to help.
JIM

 

[JIM]

Thanks Tony. Have read many of your helpful posts.

 

[Tony Toews [MVP]]

Thanks Tony. Have read many of your helpful posts.

Thanks for your comment. We often wonder just how often folks do read
our postings. <smile>

Tony