Preparing Database For Server Install

[jamiesuperman420]

Hey!! I made a database (pretty poorly, in my opinion - but it seems to work) and I'm about to install it on a server for the company I designed it for. I'm looking for some tips on how to go about it since I've never done it before.

There COULD be up to 40 computers accessing it at once, although that number will normally be quite lower.

That having been said: I know I need to split it into front-end and back-end. Does that mean I need to install the front-end portion on each individual computer?? Everybody has a folder on the server and I could put it in there as well.

Secondly regarding security (I'll be running the Wizard for user-level security)... Can I make an account called "Common User" which is read-only that multiple people can log-on with at the same time?? Since there's 40 people and all but 4 are read-only, I was hoping I could get around creating individual accounts, while creating the 4 individual accounts capable of editing.

I think that's it for now. I really appreciate any help you could offer!!

 

[pbaldy]

The ideal solution would be for each person to have a copy on their PC, due to network traffic considerations. It would be okay for each to have their own copy on the server. It would be asking for trouble to have everybody using the same copy.

I don't use Access security, but I don't think there's a problem having more than one person log in with the same ID.

 

[jamiesuperman420]

Thank you for taking the time to respond!! Granted the front-end is on everybody's PC, if I make any changes I need to manually update it on their individual computers, yeh?? Is it as easy as replacing the file with the updated one?? That won't lead to corruptness, etc, etc?? I'll probably only be adding queries and a little bit of code - pretty sure my tables encompass all the information needed.

 

[pbaldy]

They all need to be replaced, but there are ways to automate that. I wrote a little exe, some people use batch files, and there are utilities like this:

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/autofe.htm

 

[jamiesuperman420]

Seems really handy - thank you very much!!