Multi-user/network issues

[gblack]

Hi folks,

Several months ago I created an network application. I split the database, the backend is an accdb file from the split and the front end I have locked down into an accde file.

Up until last week, the app was running fine with several users accessing the system at the same time without any issues. Then all of a sudden, I started to run into multi-user network errors like this one:

"Your network access was interrupted. To continue, close the database, and then open it again."

Whilst in the midst of investigating this matter, the two big questions I continually see being asked with this type of error are:

Did you split the database? (which I have)

AND:

Is anyone connecting remotely/wirelessly? which I am sad to say, Yes... remote access is available and in fact, when these issues arose there was someone connecting to the app through a VPN remote connection.

However, now that the issue has come to my attention it seems that no matter what I do (e.g. I took a backup version of the backend database [prior to having these issues], pulled in the front from my working file and then resplit the database, and recreated the FE accde file and...), I still run into this error, even if I only work on non-vpn/non-wireless machines. It appears as though whenever there are two people in the application it will lock out one or the other.

So my questions are, first: Did I give enough information here for anyone to assess my issue?

Does anyone know what might be going on here?

Why would wireless connections "mess up" my appliaction in the first place (and I mean specfically what is going on, I understand that blips in the connection, "mess up" access, but I want to know what "mess up" means exactly).

...And now that I am not using wireless connections for testing, why am I still running into this issue?

Is there anything I can look for, test, or ask the network people to look for or test...in regards to the network side?

Lastly: What can I do at this point?

Thanks,
Gary Black

 

[irish634]

Does each PC that is accessing the back end have it's own "front end copy" installed locally? Or is each user accessing the same front end on the network.

If the latter, that's a big no no.

 

[gblack]

No, everyone has their own copy of the front end file, which I zip and send out to all users as a make updates to the system.

If this is what you are asking...

 

[Galaxiom]

Do you have the databse set up to maintain an open connection to the backend?
By default, after 15 minutes the server will disconnect an inactive session. If you have a too much of a delay with the renegotiation of the connection this might throw an error.

 

[gblack]

I dont think that is an issue, because we experience the error immediatley, but that is a good thing to know... where would I find that setting?

 

[Galaxiom]

... where would I find that setting?

Just open a form with a Record Source that is a trivial table and keep it open. This can be some kind of navigation form with the Window buttons disabled or it can be hidden.

 

[gemma-the-husky]

are the remote users on a LAN, or not.

you see, access has to transfer data from the backend to the users desktop in order to process it in the front end

so when you say remote, it sounds like they have the front end locally on their own PC, but are connected over a VPN etc to the backend - which is likely to be both slow, and fragile, in terms of moving data from the server to the users PC

the best method of running remotely, is to connect via remote desktop or something similar to a Terminal Services environment - when the slow network issues are generally not an issue , because the TS will be local to the server.

However in this circumstance, what may then become an issue, is the different problem of printing and saving locally, as the TS environment may not be aware of the local printers etc. Hope this makes sense.

 

[gblack]

...so when you say remote, it sounds like they have the front end locally on their own PC, but are connected over a VPN etc to the backend - which is likely to be both slow, and fragile, in terms of moving data from the server to the users PC...

Yep this is the case... The issue with running the application though TS is that I would have to have a seperate front end system for each person who is accessing the system this way, right? I mean, if that's what you have to do, that's what you have to do... but I am trying to wrap my brain around it all.

I just found out the server where my application resides is a virtual server... could that have made any difference, or no?

I am assuming some patch or upgrade is causing the issue, but it's tough to get the network people to do rollbacks on a server that isn't dedicated to me

 

[gemma-the-husky]

that is what we do with our TS environments - each user logs in to his own login area (ie folder) and he runs his own copy of the database.

when I change the database, i have a batch file that copies the master dbs to all the relevant users folders