Split Access DB - when people are working from home over vpn w/WIFI

[Isaac]

Ok, so .... I know that the situation can be really bad when using a split DB design (FE on local, BE on shared network folder), when everyone is working from VPN over WIFI especially.

Is it any better if each machine is plugged into a wifi booster? So the machine itself is 'hardwired', but only to a gizmo on the wall which is wirelessly receiving from the central modem

 

[CJ_London]

you still have a wireless link in the chain, so probably not. You need to identify the slowest link, which is usually the internet connection itself. Also likely the wireless connection from gizmo to modem is no faster than connecting wirelessly from machine to modem. Best option is hardwire from machine to modem.

 

[Minty]

I use mains plug adapters something like these https://www.scan.co.uk/products/tp-...starter-kit-av1000-uk-plug-gbe-ieee-8023-u-ab

They are brilliant. Plug one in next to your router, and others wherever you need a stable connection or then into a switch if you need more outputs. They don't need to be gigabit, but they aren't lots of money so why not.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Our employees VPN into their always on workstation which are hardwired into the network then access their desktop. This is a closed loop with special permissions granted ahead of time. So far this has worked with FE/BE and proprietary software.

 

[Isaac]

I use mains plug adapters something like these https://www.scan.co.uk/products/tp-...starter-kit-av1000-uk-plug-gbe-ieee-8023-u-ab

They are brilliant. Plug one in next to your router, and others wherever you need a stable connection or then into a switch if you need more outputs. They don't need to be gigabit, but they aren't lots of money so why not.

Thanks everyone. I might try one of those, Minty. Worth a shot !

 

[Pat Hartman]

If your staff has desktops at the office, use Remote Desktop or some other software to remote into the office and run your apps on your LAN. If you purchase business versions of Office, the software you need is already installed. Otherwise, it's around $100 per seat license.

You can also do this by running a server to host the desktops but that is more expensive if you already have hardware you can connect to.

 

[Minty]

RDP is definitely the way to go if you can't escape the wireless situation, and to be honest, even if you had a remote Azure / AWS backend the wifi connection would still be a massive headache.

I moved a couple of client home users over to hardwired connections after a bit of cajoling, and they came back to me within a week saying it was a massive improvement, no more random crashes, better performance al around.

So do both, hard-wire you end users and get them on to a RDP. You will never look back.

 

[Isaac]

I wish we could do rdp, but we have no such machines in offices. The offices are mostly shut down due to covid, but even if they aren't, each person is assigned a laptop and that's it, it's sitting in everyone's living room or office at home on VPN exclusively.

I know we have some virtual desktops available, will have to see what I can do there.

 

[Gasman]

Thanks everyone. I might try one of those, Minty. Worth a shot !

I would just say that I have had them in my house and I was constantly losing my connection between the one connected to the router and the one connected to my voip adapter, which meant I would be using Virgin for calling instead. I went back to bridged routers, and have not had any problems since.

 

[isladogs]

I've used Powerline Homeplugs for about 10 years. I thoroughly recommend them both for extending your home WiFi networks and for plugging into the Ethernet port when you need a hardwired link to the router.
I NEVER get issues with corruption caused by dropped connections ...apart from when my builder unintentionally tripped the power supply recently whilst I was working in Access. That caused major corruption in the Access FE - time I bought a UPS as well!