Access 2003 on a Citrix server

Jim Franklin

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Apr 7, 2010, 1:34:13 PM4/7/10

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Hi,

I wonder if anyone can advise me please?

I have a typical Front-End/Back-End Access 2003 application which is
currently being used by a client over their LAN. It uses Access security
with a .mdw file. Each user's front end folder also contains an
FrontEndUpdater.mdb which is fired whenever the front end is opened and
there is a more recent version of the front-end located in a folder on the
shared network drive. There are less than a dozen users.

We are now moving this application over to a Citrix server, so users can
access the database from more than one site. My question is:

I am guessing I need to retain the FE/BE split? But do I need to have a
separate FE on the desktop (or directory space) for each user, or can I have
a single FE which each user opens via a desktop shortcut? Do the normal
issues of having several users open the same FE file arise, or is this
handled by Citrix? (As you can guess, I am a Citrix novice!) Obviously a
single FE makes updates easier, but if each user has their own copy of the
FE, I will need to re-configure the FrontEndUpdater, to facilitate
distributing new versions of the FE.

Can anyone tell me which is the ideal way to run an Access db over a Citrix
server?

Many thanks as always,

Jim

david

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Apr 7, 2010, 11:14:29 PM4/7/10

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There have in the past been problems sharing a FE on a
Citrix server, but they were bugs, and were fixed. So
hopefully no problem.

BUT why look for trouble, disk space is cheap.

AND if you ever do have trouble, you'll first have to
do individual copies, so that you can tell that it's not
the sharing which is causing the problem.

AND it is slower if it is a shared file. (Access uses a
different locking strategy).

AND your FE must be designed for sharing. A typical
FE/BE application sometimes has stuff like temp tables
in the FE. That won't work if the FE is shared. And you
have to keep that in mind in the future if anyone ever does
any more development

AND you can't let the user put temp queries, reports etc
in the shared FE.

AND there are some things like filtering which won't
work in a shared file,

AND there are other things you can do for individual
users if each user has a special copy, but if you aren't
doing that already, it doesn't matter.

So....

If the client insists on a single shared file, that's OK too.

(david)

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Stefan Hoffmann

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Apr 8, 2010, 3:48:40 AM4/8/10

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hi Jim,

On 07.04.2010 19:34, Jim Franklin wrote:
> I am guessing I need to retain the FE/BE split?

Yes.

> But do I need to have a
> separate FE on the desktop (or directory space) for each user, or can I have
> a single FE which each user opens via a desktop shortcut?

There is no difference running Access in Citrix or running it local, so
the answer is for the same reasons: Yes.

> Do the normal
> issues of having several users open the same FE file arise, or is this
> handled by Citrix?

No, Citrix cannot handle these issues.

mfG
--> stefan <--

Jim Franklin

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Apr 8, 2010, 9:09:34 AM4/8/10

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Thanks guys. Seems pretty clear that individual FE's is the way to go!

Jim

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