MS Access Database with Remote Desktop - Multiple

[James]

Dear Access Guru's,

Hopefully you can help me (as Microsoft don't seem to be able to)

We have an Access database on a Windows 2003 server with 5 CALS in our
office.

Access is loaded onto the server.

We have 2 PC's connected to it on the LAN

We are planning to open 2 remote offices and we want to be able to use
the Access database at the remote offices as well as the local office.

I have tested the remote desktop to the server and it allows me to
connect and use the database.

How many remote desktops can I run to the server simultaneously? Do i
need terminal services? Can I use Small Business Server?

If I run 2 plus the office connections can we all use the same database
at the same time?

Many thanks
James

[Larry Linson]

I don't have an answer about "remote desktop" without Terminal Server, but
Access plays nicely with Windows Terminal Services. Each user should have
their own private disk space, and be running their own copy of the front-end
part of the application.

There are too many variables to tell you how many users can concurrently use
a database, some factors are: the hardware, software, and network
environment, and the requirements, design, and implementation of the
database application. If all are near-perfect, we have reports of over 100
concurrent users; we have also had reports of "Access falling over with as
few as 4 users" but I have to guess that in those cases, every factor was
just about as far from perfect as it could be.

Certainly, a "normal, well-conceived and well-implemented" database should
easily handle 20 or more users.

You should, of course, follow all the recommended practices: give each user
their own copy of the front end (queries, forms, reports, macros, modules,
and any local lookup tables) linked to tables in the back-end (tables, data,
and relationships).

The very best collection of links and information on performance and
avoiding corruption in a multiuser environment that I have found is MVP Tony
Toews' site at http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm.

Just for the record: you will need either to use the runtime support, or
have an Access license for each user who is running Access, even if they are
running remotely using Terminal Server.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP
"James" <ja***********@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11**********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

Dear Access Guru's,

Hopefully you can help me (as Microsoft don't seem to be able to)

We have an Access database on a Windows 2003 server with 5 CALS in our
office.

Access is loaded onto the server.

We have 2 PC's connected to it on the LAN

We are planning to open 2 remote offices and we want to be able to use
the Access database at the remote offices as well as the local office.

I have tested the remote desktop to the server and it allows me to
connect and use the database.

How many remote desktops can I run to the server simultaneously? Do i
need terminal services? Can I use Small Business Server?

If I run 2 plus the office connections can we all use the same database
at the same time?

Many thanks
James

[David W. Fenton]

"James" <ja***********@hotmail.com> wrote in
news:11**********************@g47g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com:

Hopefully you can help me (as Microsoft don't seem to be able to)

We have an Access database on a Windows 2003 server with 5 CALS in
our office.
Do you mean 5 Terminal Server CALs or 5 MS Office CALs?
Access is loaded onto the server.

We have 2 PC's connected to it on the LAN

We are planning to open 2 remote offices and we want to be able to
use the Access database at the remote offices as well as the local
office.

I have tested the remote desktop to the server and it allows me to
connect and use the database.

How many remote desktops can I run to the server simultaneously?
Depends on the amount of RAM and the bandwidth between your office
and the remote users.
Do i need terminal services?
Terminal Server is a part of Win2K3 Server (as it was in Win2K
Server, as well). It is already installed. You may have to configure
it (it depends on how your server is currently set up), but you seem
to already be able to connect to it, so it's already up and running.

You'll need to buy the WTS CALs and install them. This is actually
not nearly as trivial as Microsoft makes it out to be, as you have
the choice between user-based CALs and device-based CALs. The former
is what MS expects you to have, because the license server doesn't
actually properly report the usage of user-based CALs. It can also
be a pain to get the license server working in the first place. I
don't remember the details, but one of my clients had major problems
with it last January. It was something really stupid that was MS's
fault, but I can't quite recall the specifics right now. The result
was that it was reporting that our CALs were out of date and would
be expiring (or had already expired).
Can I use Small Business Server?
Last I checked, SBS did not support WTS except for the two default
access licenses for administrative use. If you have only two remote
users, you could perhaps get by with it, but you'd have to make them
administrators, as only those with adminstrative access can use
them. That's a dangerous thing to do, so I wouldn't recommend it.

I recently did a spec for a WTS server for a client and we couldn't
do SBS, and had to get Win2K3 Server Standard.

It's a moot point, of course, if you have more than 2 users.
If I run 2 plus the office connections can we all use the same
database at the same time?

Install Access on the workstations in the office and run it on the
workstations, not from Terminal Server. It would be crazy to run WTS
across a LAN, since you'd be using up WTS CALs that you don't need
to be using.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
dfenton at bway dot net http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc