Distributed Databases

[draaYak]

Hi,

I have an MS Access database on a server which acts as a back end, with about 30 users using the data. They each have a copy of the MS Access front end located on their PC's.

Every time I make a change to the front end, I have to redistribute the new version to each PC.

What I am wanting to do is put a single copy of the front end on the server, and adding a shortcut to this front end on everyone's PC's. This would allow me to make changes to the front end without having to redistribute to all users.

What I was wondering is, if I put a single copy of the Front end on the server and simply shortcut to that front end, will it cause any problems, or are there any issues that I should look out for?

Any help or advice much appreciated!

 

[john471]

if I put a single copy of the Front end on the server and simply shortcut to that front end, will it cause any problems, or are there any issues that I should look out for?

That might necessitate getting everyone out of the front end to update it.

For some purposes I use a (DOS) batch file (with a shortcut to it) on the local PC which copies the front end from the server to the local machine and then runs it from the local. That way, when I want to update the front end, I just overwrite it on the server, and the next time anyone fires up the DB (using their shortcut) they will get the new copy. One downside is that the FE is traversing the LAN every time, not only on an "as needed" basis. The effect of this downside will depend on a few factors, like the speed of your LAN, the size of the FE, and how often users exit and re-launch the DB. On an upside if they happen to corrupt their local FE, it will be "refreshed" by exiting and re-launching

HTH

John.

 

[ssteinke]

Sounds to me like you are going to have tons of uneccesary network traffic, likely to cause a huge hit on performance. I've noticed several threads that have similar issues that you might find useful. But I think it's pretty important for each workstation to have it's own front-end. As for me, i've been using a deployment utility called Deploymaster. I package all the necessary files into the deployment executable, place the executable on the server. Now for the fun part, before i package my files for re-distribution I change a table called 'Version', which is located on the frontend, to reflect my new version number. When I want the users to go to the new version, I change the backend table called 'Version', to reflect the new update.

When the user's frontend is started, the first thing i do is have the frontend check the version numbers to see if they match, if not, kick them out of the database until they upgrade to the new version from the server. This keeps everybody using the proper frontend.

Seems like a lot of automation, but it is well worth it if you do a lot of updates.