Terminal Services vs Client/Server

Question

Sorry I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question.

We have a data management system which consists of a SQL Server back end and MS Access clients connected via OBDC. Our server is based at site A and we have several users based at a remote site B connected via VPN.

My question is considering we have a VPN, why is it considered faster to connect to the client system at site A via Terminal Services rather than by clients installed at site B connection to the site A SQL data via ODBC.

I would have thought transmitting all the GUI over the VPN would generate more load than just passing SQL data.

Any thoughts?

Cheers, Numb

Answer 1

This depends completely on the amount of traffic between the MS Access clients and the SQL Server back end. If the client is constructed in a way to minimize trafic (for instance, by calling stored procedures on the SQL Server which return only what is needed to display on the GUI) then the VPN connection will be faster. If, however, the MS Access client uses connected tables such that filtering and/or joining is performed on the client, and the amount of data in the tables is large, then lots of data will fetched locally and the Terminal Services option will be better.