Safe number of users on a LAN in FE/BE environment

[Phonik]

Hi

Can anyone give me some ammo to tell me boss what a safe number of users of an access database is. It is a well built database that runs quickly and effiecently but I need to know at what point this will be put at risk.
100 users? 200+?
I am running the database a FE/BE with the client sitting on each users pc and the BE sitting on a server. The network is 10/100.

Thanks folks.

 

[KeithG]

100 users is alot. I believe microsoft says access can handle up to 155 but if you have this many users I would switch to a client server backend. But it also depends what your users are doing? Creating records? Updating records? Viewing Records?

 

[twoplustwo]

I have read (although this may be bs) that anymore than 20 at one time and you start to see performance issues. I'm sure on of the guys can provide a better answer.

 

[Phonik]

Thanks for your replies.

The users are adding, searching, editing but not deleting records. The most I have had at one is 75 but there could be more at any time. It's a complaints database so not everyone is using it at one time. They only use it when there is a complaint to log.
I have a redeveloped version that is better and data management is done using SQL strings in the code as opposed to QBE's. My boss has said that if it works well, we should roll it out to our other three offices, another in Birmingham and one in Ipswich which would mean the possibility of over 200 users logged in....
I take it then this is a no no...

 

[ByteMyzer]

If you're rolling out the front end to other offices, you are no longer operating on a LAN; you're on a WAN. At that point you should consider a different platform for the BE, such as SQL Server or SQL Server Express. Microsoft Access databases, as back-ends, perform poorly over a Wide Area Network, especially in a multi-user environment, and there is far more likelihood of database corruption issues.

 

[Phonik]

Thanks for that info. What about if we used a version of Oracel. I believe we have 9i.
Would that then require a licence for each connection of a client to the Oracle DB BE?

 

[KeithG]

Oracle would also work.

 

[ByteMyzer]

Of that I am not sure. It might be worth checking to see whether Oracle offers site licenses. In that event, it may not be necessary to pay a fee for each connection seat.

 

[neileg]

Oracle have different licensing models. The one we have is based on the size of the server, not the number of users.