Need some advice

[LFATB]

I have been offered a job at my the company my father works at to help witht he networking. One of the main tasks will be to speed up their current network structure. They use Microsoft Access on a server and have up to 10 clients connected at a time. They said that it takes forever to search the database for an invoice. I monitored their network usage on the server running Xp Pro, it was at 75%+ when one person was accessing it. The network is only 6 months old and is 100 base. Would upgrading to all around gigabit speed things up? The server only has 256MB of ram and I know that it will need at least twice that. One more thing, they want me to write, or find a program to store Temp Pole data, just a few values, and have it pop-up a reminder after 30days, then if it has not been set to do it again every 15 days or so. Would it be possible to write thin in CGI and run it on their server accessible via IE and send e-mail notification?

Thanks in Advance,
Curtis

[LFATB]

:Bump:

[Disposibleteen]

what are the other specs on the server, especially what kind of HDD storage it has, servers need fast storage. I doubt 100base would be worth the cost to upgrade as it isnt very restrictive unless you transfer large files frequently.

[sllywhtboy]

convert the access database to an access project with a SQL backend.

access was never designed for 10+ users on a network. if the utilization is that high for that long, it's too big and needs to be converted to an SQL server.

[sllywhtboy]

here's a free version of MS's SQL server. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/msde/default.asp

[oublie]

I have been offered a job at my the company my father works at to help witht he networking. One of the main tasks will be to speed up their current network structure. They use Microsoft Access on a server and have up to 10 clients connected at a time. They said that it takes forever to search the database for an invoice. I monitored their network usage on the server running Xp Pro, it was at 75%+ when one person was accessing it. The network is only 6 months old and is 100 base. Would upgrading to all around gigabit speed things up? The server only has 256MB of ram and I know that it will need at least twice that. One more thing, they want me to write, or find a program to store Temp Pole data, just a few values, and have it pop-up a reminder after 30days, then if it has not been set to do it again every 15 days or so. Would it be possible to write thin in CGI and run it on their server accessible via IE and send e-mail notification?

Thanks in Advance,
Curtis

Having worked as a sql oracle access and Datawarehouse dba, networking doesnt seem to be the issue here unless all processing is done on the client side.

as was pointed out earlier, access is not the best option for a database, sql server would be a fairly easy migration path although i've administered access databases with over 50 users in the past.

memory is poor, you will most likely need more

the configuration of the disks not necessarily the size is very important when processing data

how large is the database what sort of data is it storing, has the database been normalised , do they have a dba ?

it might be pertinent to start by having a look at the sql running on the system and see if this can be optomized. (note that sql server as mentioned earlier usually uses server side stored procedures which are more efficient but may lead to a redevelopment of their client side side software if there is any)

on something like this if they are not doing a lot of number crunching, the processors on the server are not as important.

All this said, i would suggest your first port of call would be to monitor disk , memory cpu and network usage for a period of 2 or three days using the provided tools try to find out when their busiest period is and make sure this is included in your analysis, this should lead you to the biggest bottleneck. Prioritise the issues in order of severity giving costs and time to fix and then present this to the powers that be.

Hope this helps.

[LFATB]

Having worked as a sql oracle access and Datawarehouse dba, networking doesnt seem to be the issue here unless all processing is done on the client side.

as was pointed out earlier, access is not the best option for a database, sql server would be a fairly easy migration path although i've administered access databases with over 50 users in the past.

memory is poor, you will most likely need more

the configuration of the disks not necessarily the size is very important when processing data

how large is the database what sort of data is it storing, has the database been normalised , do they have a dba ?

it might be pertinent to start by having a look at the sql running on the system and see if this can be optomized. (note that sql server as mentioned earlier usually uses server side stored procedures which are more efficient but may lead to a redevelopment of their client side side software if there is any)

on something like this if they are not doing a lot of number crunching, the processors on the server are not as important.

All this said, i would suggest your first port of call would be to monitor disk , memory cpu and network usage for a period of 2 or three days using the provided tools try to find out when their busiest period is and make sure this is included in your analysis, this should lead you to the biggest bottleneck. Prioritise the issues in order of severity giving costs and time to fix and then present this to the powers that be.

Hope this helps.

The file size on the server is about 60MB, it has an AMD Athlon CPU, 2200 I think, as far as I know just a single IDE drive. I only monitored it for a few minutes, and the network usage was topping out from a single client. Thanks for the advice, I am roughing houses right now, when I work at the shop I will get to work on it. How would I go about converting it too SQL without losing any data? Also, what would a good program to constantly monitor and log the data.

[sllywhtboy]

they have 1 IDE drive in that server.. important question: are they running backups? what if it dies? what if the building burns down, is their data stored offsite somewhere? what if someone steals the server? what if it gets zapped by lightning?

my suggestion for converting it to an SQL/ADP setup is: install the stuff on a test computer. configure it the way you need. copy the file.mdb to the test box. then, convert the test database. have one of the users test it through all phases of its use. it should work, but it's worth testing.

then maybe run a dual-environment. the file.mdb and the file.adp/sql. dual-work in "production" to make sure it works.. then eventually phase out the file.mdb

RUN BACKUPS

[LFATB]

THe file is backed up every day, next time I am there I will observe it again. I believe that every time they launch it and start working, it copies the file via the network. I know nothing about SQL or any of that and they would prefer not to switch software. I have a couple of gigabit cards and I will setup a small test.

Thanks for all the help everyone

[sllywhtboy]

THe file is backed up every day, next time I am there I will observe it again. I believe that every time they launch it and start working, it copies the file via the network. I know nothing about SQL or any of that and they would prefer not to switch software. I have a couple of gigabit cards and I will setup a small test.

Thanks for all the help everyone the gig cards would be a bandaid to the true problem..

[Crankster]

Probably not even that, the server is not up to spec. Nor software or hardwarewise

[LFATB]

Allready upgraded the network, made 1800 dollars and it flies compared to before. We are about to make a deal to upgrade about half of the other computers.

[masterofpuppets]

Dude, you just recommended him M$SQL, when MySQL is far superior in many ways.

[LFATB]

If I went that way, I would have to re-write all of their database, gigabit with raptors in raid 5 is working great for now.

[sllywhtboy]

If I went that way, I would have to re-write all of their database, gigabit with raptors in raid 5 is working great for now.access actually has a utility called 'upsize' which allows you to easily convert your setup to an access data project (.adp) and an sql backend.

i haven't tried connecting access to mysql. i'm sure it's possible but i haven't tried it.