super slow database

[Cowboy_BeBa]

hi everyone

I'm a little bit stuck here, im running a basic split database. the back end is stored on a company server and the front end is stored on the desktops of each of its users (theres about a total of 5 users, however usually only 2 or 3 using the db simultaneously)

Since day 1 the db has been quite slow, lately though ive noticed it getting slower and slower and im not sure how to improve this.

for instance, today i got to the office and needed to relink the front end to the back end (whenever i make changes to the front end i link it to a temporary back end on my desk top with dummy data, before relinking it to the proper back end on the server), it took about 10 minutes to relink it to the server

takes about a minute or two for forms and reports to open up

is this a problem with the database, or with the server? not sure if theres anything i can do or whether i should contact our tech guy and see if he can speed up the network somehow?

 

[pbaldy]

Difficult to narrow down. I have a client who traced a serious performance problem to a bad network switch. There are a number of performance thoughts here:

http://www.granite.ab.ca/access/performancefaq.htm

the first (persistent connection) being the most common first suggestion. Do other things run slow from the network, or just this app?

 

[Cowboy_BeBa]

just the app from what i can see, the rest of the network runs pretty smoothly

 

[gemma-the-husky]

probably a persistent connection issue, as paul said. Worth investigating. Definitely this, if you do not have a persistent connection!

 

[Cowboy_BeBa]

thanks gemma

i just asked around the office to see if any other aspects of the network are slow, so far all things related to file storage (accessing/storing documents on the server being the most common use of our network) are working fine
however a few of the people in accounting say MYOB runs relatively slow, i havent used MYOB so im not sure if its similar to an access db, but from what i gather everyone has their own front end client and it connects to a back end on the server, very similar to the way my db works,

should i take this as confirmation that the issue is with the network and not with my DB's design?
going to call up the IT guy soon and see if he can come in to check out the network

 

[gemma-the-husky]

thanks gemma

i just asked around the office to see if any other aspects of the network are slow, so far all things related to file storage (accessing/storing documents on the server being the most common use of our network) are working fine
however a few of the people in accounting say MYOB runs relatively slow, i havent used MYOB so im not sure if its similar to an access db, but from what i gather everyone has their own front end client and it connects to a back end on the server, very similar to the way my db works,

should i take this as confirmation that the issue is with the network and not with my DB's design?
going to call up the IT guy soon and see if he can come in to check out the network

This was the first point Paul made also. Pbaldy.

What happens is that in a multi user environment, Windows takes a few seconds to renegotiate a connection to a database each time, thus giving apparently very slow performance. The problem only happens with more that one concurrent user. You avoid this by a mechanism that maintains a permanent connection to the back end, thus avoided the need to renegotiate the connection each time. If you haven't arranged this then you haven't got one, so that's the thing to investigate first. It may well fix the problem without the it guys, and it is also something that probably wouldn't apply to the it guys anyway.