Limits of ms Access

  • Thread starter Thread starter nabeel
  • Start date Start date
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nabeel

hi,
I need to know how big an access database can be before the
performance starts to degrade?? I have a database that has about 5
tables with around 2500 records in each . increasing at the rate of
500 per year .. should I move to ms SQL server or will ms access
suffice . . there are about 2 users updating the records
simultaneously . . 4-5 read only users . .
Any comments???
 
Performance is dependent on many different factors that have
absolutely nothing to do with the choice of database platform.
Indexes, properly normalized schema, network speed, database design,
network speed, and other factors all contribute. It's entirely
possible to have a slow app in Access, upsize it unchanged to SQL
Server, and have performance be even worse due to the increased
overhead involved with running a poorly-designed application against a
server database. At your current rate, you shouldn't run out of space
any time soon as long as you regularly compact the database. And if
you're having performance problems now, I'd look at some of those
things I just mentioned, not at upsizing.

-- Mary
Microsoft Access Developer's Guide to SQL Server
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672319446
 
It depends on your PC performance, whether you use
indexing, how efficient your queries and how many fields
of data you are working with, but for me I generally don't
see much of a degradation until I hit around 100,000
records. I think you've got a while before you get to
that point :-)

Even at this point you may not see a degrade, depending on
what you are doing and you could also consider creating
summary tables that you refresh periodically which
contains only a summary of the detail in your other table.
 
Not only that, but an Access Project using a SQL server
DB (Unless you're planning on using MSDE) can be a lot
more costly to maintain, since you'll need SQL Server +
CAL's + a server etc. The Access Jet DB's are definitely
a cheaper route for DB's this small.
 
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