Is MS Access (JET) suitable for multiuser access?

Question

I have a product designed to be a desktop product using MS Access file as a DB.

Now, some users need to install it in a few PCs (let's say 2 or 3) and SHARE the database.

I thought to place the MS Access file in a shared folder and access it from the PC, but... the JET Engine is designed for multiple user access?

Any tips or things to be aware of doing this?

EDIT: The app is a .net one, using the database as storage (not using the database as frontend)

Answer 1

There is so much misinformation in the answers in this thread that I don't know where to start. I just spent 4 points in reputation voting down the answers with misleading and wrong information in them.

1. the Jet database engine (which is all that's involved here, as the OP clarified with an edit) is by default multi-user -- it was built from the ground up to be that way.

2. sharing a Jet data store is very reliable when the network is not substandard. This means not a WAN and not wireless, because the bandwidth has to be sufficient for Jet to maintain the LDB file (for multi-user locking), which means a ping by your local PC's instance of the Jet database engine once per second (with default settings), and because Jet can't recover from a dropped connection (which is quite common in a wireless environment).

3. the situation where Access falls down is when a front-end Access application MDB is shared (which is not the case for this poster). The reason it fails is because you're sharing things that can't be reliably shared and have no reason to be shared. Because of the way Access objects are stored in an MDB file (the entire Access project is stored in a single BLOB field in one record in one of the system tables), it's very prone to corruption if multiple users open it. In my estimation, sharing an Access front end (or an unsplit MDB with the tables and forms/reports/etc. all in one MDB) is the source for 99.99% of corruptions of Access/Jet files.

My basic answer to the OP's question is that, yes, Jet would be a great data store for an app of that size. However, if there's any possibility at all for the user population to grow above 25, then it might be better to start off from scratch with a database engine that is more robust at higher user populations.

Answer 2

It's perfectly feasible to do this; but you MUST split the database into a front end (with forms, queries, code) and a back end (data only). Every user has to have the front end on their own computer, linking to the shared back end.

It will be slow as Jet generates a ton of network traffic. Microsoft is also gradually deprecating Access as a development tool. Access 2007, for instance, has a far less sophisticated security model than Access 2003.

As a long time Access developer I am gradually moving away from Access.

Answer 3

Don't do it... the Jet database claims to be able to support multiple users, but it is incredibly easy to use the upsizing wizard to convert your Access file to a Sql Express database. That database file could EASILY become locked by a user or admin, and all of your users would be unable to use the database.

... and Sql Express is free. Your upgrade path from there to a full instance of Sql Server or some other commercial database is simple.

Answer 4

With 2 or 3 users on a reliable local network you should be fine, as long as you back the network drive up often.

Avoid any bit/bool fields in your tables - Jet has some nasty corruption issues with multiple access to them.

Also bear in mind that all locking in Access is optimistic: you will get dirty reads occasionally.

MS Access is designed for small office scenarios like this: non-critical light office use that you can set up with the minimum of programming.

Expect the data file to get corrupted every now and then - back up regularly.

Answer 5

The ACE/Jet engine is a great piece of software but, while it was designed to support multiple users, actually supporting multiple users in practise is not one of its strong points. The last straw for me is where then removed user level security (ULS) from the engine: I suppose I can imagine a simple database situation where all users will have the same privileges (i.e. admin access to all database objects) but IMO that is not supporting multiple users well, as compared with, say, MS SQL Server.

Answer 6

Yes, it supports access by multiple (that is, a small, workgroup-sized, number) of users over a network file share. However, the file share architecture is simply not ideal for supporting simultaneous writing to a file by multiple users. A client/server database system (SQL Server, etc.) generally provides better performance, security, and reliability.

Answer 7

As a sysadmin, please don't use Access for anything multi-user. Do what Jeff Fritz suggests and use a database that is designed for multi-user access. You may think that your little app is only going to be shared between a few people, but I guarantee you that it'll have a hundred users and fifty new features by the end of the year. And if those are all Access, rather than VB/SQL Express, your Ops people will break into your house one night and slit your throat.

Access isn't a client-server app, and provides very little in the way of backup/restore, or any automation whatsoever. Not to mention the interface and the DB are very tightly coupled... so if you ever want to turn this into a web app, or make any serious changes, your world will be filled with pain.

Answer 8

It's been done so many times by so many generic software engineers where we've seen a .mdb go corrupt in a multi user situation. If so many experienced specialist Access developers can get it right, as I'm inclined to believe, then we generalists must be doing something wrong and that something must be fairly fundamental yet non-obvious for so many of us to run away from the thing screaming 'Never again!' So if you consider yourself to be a experienced specialist Access developer (or you know how to find one) then go for it. But if you are a generalist or casual user looking for a lightweight back end then I suggest you look elsewhere (SQL Server is good IMO).

Answer 9

If your users can wait twice as long for an application with half of the features they want, then don't use Access.

Answer 10

Jet does not have the sophisticated lock logic required to support multi-user scenarios. You can get away with using it if your application is mostly reads and low-contention.

I've seen websites support many users, but I would recommend SQL Express unless you have a compelling reason to choose Jet.

Answer 11

I can tell you from painful experience that Jet 3/3.5 was not reliable. I saw it crash frequently under light load and when there were crashes you risked data corruption. It used to be extremely sensitive to any power problems, any client crashing against it (even the UI linked to the mdb), and any LAN problems. More recent versions of Jet might be better but switching to Sql Server is clearly the way to go in my opinion for anything other than trivial data entry with a small number of users. Sql Express is free and you don't really lose anything, especially if you're UI is in .Net, rather than Access.

EDIT: Microsoft doesn't think you should rely on Jet 4 either.

from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/303528

Microsoft Jet is not intended for use with high-stress server applications, high-concurrency server applications, or 24 hours a day, seven days a week server applications. This includes server applications, such as Web applications, commerce applications, transactional applications, and messaging server applications. For these types of applications, the best solution is to switch to a true client/server-based database system, such as Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) or Microsoft SQL Server. When you use Microsoft Jet in high-stress applications such as Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS), you may experience any one of the following problems: Database corruption Stability issues, such as IIS crashing or locking up Sudden failure or persistent failure of the driver to connect to a valid database that requires re-starting the IIS service

Answer 12

just check whether the db lock file (like .ldb) is there or not. If it is there, somebody is accessing that file. If it is not there, at present there is no one accessing that file and you may proceed. Otherwise, wait for when that file (.ldb) is no longer existing.

Answer 13

If you use a Terminal Server, the performance is real good. We have more solutions up to 50 Users at one Access mdb. Development is real fast and deployment easy.

Problems:

• everybody can copy data mdb
• no access rights
• limited store procedures
• optimize (compress and repair) only possible with no use data Database
• limit to 2 GB!