How Many Users Can Access Database Support? 1

[drosenkranz]

I'm having discussions with administrators here over capabilities and limitations of Access. I know this a very general question but I need some feedback on what others have found. I've had as many as 40 users in a VB system that has about 30 Access tables. The database is over 120 meg. There are 3 main tables and the rest either linked in relationships or just serving as look-up tables for acceptable values or used to fill pull down boxes on VB forms. Any input appreciated on limitations on the number of Access users would be especially helpful.
The 2nd mouse gets the cheese.

 

[Terpsfan]

Access is supposed to support a maximum of 255 concurrent users and supports databases up to 2 GB. Reality says that 30-40 users is about your maximum, then you want to seriously think about upsizing to SQL Server. If you are implementing security with Access the system.mdw file has a tendency to get corrupted with more than 20 users. A big consideration is the network that the database resides on. A slow, poorly-designed network can make the best-designed database run slow and can corrupt your data. The bottom line is: does the database get the job done? If so, stick with it, if not, upscale to SQL Server. If you have a SQL Server box already, by all means upsize. Otherwise the costs of buying 40 user licenses for SQL Server would cost about 10 grand.

 

[NickBulka]

You might want to look into using MSDE.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/msde

nick bulka