Back End on Linux?

[Brooks Clayton]

I have a split db created in A97. The backend currently resides on a
Windows2000 machine and is accessed by front ends on other 2000 and
Win98 machines all running A97, all on our local network.

Can I move the backend to a Snap Server 4500 running Linux without
problems?

Thanks,

Brooks

[Tony Toews]

bc******@midsouthcolor.com (Brooks Clayton) wrote:

I have a split db created in A97. The backend currently resides on a
Windows2000 machine and is accessed by front ends on other 2000 and
Win98 machines all running A97, all on our local network.

Can I move the backend to a Snap Server 4500 running Linux without
problems?

Possibly.

The problem is that MS uses "phantom locks" in a non standard method. So it may work
well and may not. The following discussion is in reference to Samba. Note that
Novell does handle Access well. Well, except for some versions and the OpLocks
problem.

Samba, the Unix component which provides Windows networking services, has been
written to the documented specs and yet sometimes doesn't work well. For many people
this has worked quite well but others have had lots of troubles.

ACC2000: Microsoft Access and Untested Networks - 209161
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=209161

I think ACC: Microsoft Jet Utilities Available [Q176670]
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=176670 has some detailed info on "phantom locks"
in the "Understanding Microsoft Jet Locking" whitepaper,

There is an introduction on SAMBA at http://us1.samba.org/samba/docs/SambaIntro.html.
It info on mapping Windows drives to Linux directories.

-Use Samba >2.2.7 and copy the backend to this share
-Read/write-permisssion for the users
-Install the frontend on every pc an connect the tables
-Read the doc readme2k.txt in the samba-share of the linux-box

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Please respond only in the newsgroups so that others can
read the entire thread of messages.
Microsoft Access Links, Hints, Tips & Accounting Systems at
http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm

[James Fortune]

Tony Toews <tt****@telusplanet.net> wrote in message news:<2t********************************@4ax.com>. ..

bc******@midsouthcolor.com (Brooks Clayton) wrote:

I have a split db created in A97. The backend currently resides on a
Windows2000 machine and is accessed by front ends on other 2000 and
Win98 machines all running A97, all on our local network.

Can I move the backend to a Snap Server 4500 running Linux without
problems?
Possibly.

The problem is that MS uses "phantom locks" in a non standard method. So it may work
well and may not. The following discussion is in reference to Samba. Note that
Novell does handle Access well. Well, except for some versions and the OpLocks
problem.

Samba, the Unix component which provides Windows networking services, has been
written to the documented specs and yet sometimes doesn't work well. For many people
this has worked quite well but others have had lots of troubles.

I have an A97 backend on a Samba share and have not had a single error
of any kind in about eight months of operation with one exception for
56 concurrent users. When the company moved locations someone removed
the network cable to the linux box while people were connected -
OUCH!. That didn't corrupt the database so everything was back to
normal soon after the cable was put back in. Congratulations to both
Microsoft and the Samba team for such remarkable performance at a
price that even beats MySQL. Keep in mind that if you require MS
support in the future it will likely be cheaper overall to use only
Windows Servers. Note: The Samba share is running on a $400 VIA
machine! I will be adding several more linux machines to the network
to provide separate storage locations for each group. Right now the
passwords are handled manually but I am planning on using LDAP to ease
this process in a way that will allow interaction with Windows servers
running Active Directory. The front end is maintained in A97 in a way
that will convert effortlessly into A97 through A2K3 but I suspect
that the A2K3 users have not tried all the combinations yet and I may
encounter a situation where the ease of conversion cannot be
maintained.

... Some good references from Tony...

-Use Samba >2.2.7 and copy the backend to this share

I would recommend using at least version 3.0.1 of Samba.

James A. Fortune