P2P app (XPDev)

Topic

New Reply

Well, I’ve finally got my P2P set up (which probably just sends shivers down the spines of my Access friends). Be that as it may, I would appreciate some general feedback on how to set this up. But first, a basic description of the environment.

I have a small home-based business that I can normally handle on my own. However, there are times where I am loosing business simply because I don’t have the “facilities” to take additional orders. I bring in part-time help when it’s busy just to help with the accounting (so I’m not up all night), but this person could be a real asset during the day if they had access to my app. and could enter orders. No, I can’t afford a server at this time. So, if this can be done (as a temporary measure) I’d sure appreciate some guidance. Honest and candid input is genuinely appreciated. If you feel that P2P is highly unstable and fraught with difficulties in the Access environment – just say so. If you are of the “If it don’t fit, force it” school of thought – I appreciate those comments as well.

Reply | Quote

Replies

We have a number of small clients who run peer-to-peer networks and have multi-user Access databases. In general, where you have short cable runs (and aren’t running wireless where you can get interference and drop-outs on occasion), we don’t see any significant problems. You do need to have a backup provision – and if the data is critical to your business you may want to back up every few hours, as a hard drive crash, or major corruption because of a PC crash can still occur – though it should be a remote possibility. A simple file copy is probably the easiest way to back up the data. You should split the database into a front-end / back-end configuration just so you can make design changes in the forms and reports without kicking every one out. Others will presumably add other suggestions.

Reply | Quote

(Edited by bfxtrfcmgr on 26-Jun-03 19:40. )

Wendell:

That sounds encouraging (although I’m not fond of the term “crash”). I just discovered a problem aside from the P2P issue though – can’t split the db. I just used the wizard to accomplish this and got two consecutive Windows Msgs.

“Subscript out of range” and
“Invalid procedure call or argument”

Oh well, back to the drawing board…

EDIT: Ran the wizard again and it created the B.E. this time, but the same error msgs. popped up. Also, I understand that the B.E. is just the tables, but it left the original db with the same tables and without the tables being linked. Is that right? Do you then create your own F.E. with the Forms, Reports, Queries, etc? Or, did something go haywire when the wizard created the B.E.?

EDIT2: Abandoned the wizard and created F.E./B.E. the old fashioned way. Works fine on the same machine. Next step would be…? Map drive? Drink heavily? Continue talking to self? I could copy the F.E. to drive C of PC-2, but I’m sure the linked tables will think the B.E. is also on drive C of PC-2, while it’s actually on drive C of PC-1. (Hmmm, didn’t Charlotte warn me about this?) Just keep talking to yourself Bryan, you’ll be just fine!

Reply | Quote

Splitting works best when you can have a separate drive letter that can be shared and have the same mapped drive letter on other workstations. Then you can link to the back-end with the same drive letter, i.e. E:MyDatabasesAccessBackEnd.mdb, and there aren’t any differences between copies of the front-end located on each PC workstation. Alternatively, when you put a copy of the front-end on a different workstation you can use the linked table manager to link that copy to the mapped drive letter where the tables reside. Not sure why the wizard is giving you trouble – it sounds as if there may be problems of some sort with your Access install.

Reply | Quote

Lost, dazed, and confused

I have split the db manually without issues, so at least that’s done. What I don’t get is how a copy of the FE on PC-2 is supposed to access the BE on PC-1 if they’re both residing on drive C of their respective stations (C on PC-1 and C on PC-2). How can the FE on PC-1 know to access dive C of PC-2? Totally lost!

Reply | Quote

If you go to tools>add-ins>linked table Manager you will be able to

Reply | Quote

This is nuts!

I have the FE and BE in a shared folder. I try to open either and I get the error that its not a valid path name ( I only suppose because of the “C” drive issue). Both have a “C” drive, so how can it know which one? Was Wendell saying that I need a seperate drive to do this – one named as “X”, or something that is not crrently on either PC?

Reply | Quote

Do you have more than 2 machines? If so, put the back end on the third machine and a copy of the FE on each of the other two and use the same mapping on the FE PCs. If you only have two machines, don’t try to share the front end. Put a front end on each machine with each front end linked independently to the back end. That means that on machine 2, the links would be to the PC-1 shared C drive, however that is mapped. On PC1, the links would simply be to the local drive. Otherwise, yes, you have to map something like an X drive and use that mapping on both machines, but I would recommend the other approach.

Reply | Quote

Charlotte:

I’m totally cracking up right now! Not because there’s anything funny about all this, but because I’ve totally lost it. The last time I mapped a drive was about three years ago with someone standing over my shoulder. We did eight machines but, apparently, that did nothing for my memory. At this point I’m just lost – probably couldn’t find the Start button on a bet!

I have two PC’s and a (wireless) laptop. I probably shouldn’t even be considering the laptop, but it also has a wired configuration, so I’d like to use it if I can. Anyway, I may just be wasting everyone’s time considering my current mental state. I usually have a bit more tenacity than this!

Reply | Quote

I have developed an app that has been in production for several months using a very similar configuration.

I mapped drive R:, on both machines, to a specific folder on the C drive of machine 1. To map a drive (following assumes operating system is Win 2000 or Win XP-not sure about earlier operating systems), open Windows Explorer and click on Tools | Map Network Drive. Select a letter and enter machine1sharename, where machine1 = name of machine 1 and sharename is the share name given when you shared the drive. For example, my mapping for drive R looks like cashiercrestaurant system, where cashier is the name of machine1 and crestaurant system is the path to the folder that I want to be available to both machines.

Once this is done, open your mdb file (on both machines, if the FE’s are separate) and click on Tools | Linked Table Manager. Open the BE mdb file on the drive you mapped (mine is R:) and select the table(s) that you want to link.

HTH.

Reply | Quote

WSC:

Thanks for the assist!

I got away from the whole thing yesterday afternoon, had a nice dinner out, a full nights sleep, great breakfast, and a nice walk this morning. Brain cells seem to be working again. Thanks for your input, and my apologies for not replying sooner, everything is up and running now thanks to your help.

Onward and upward!

Reply | Quote

Bryan:

Glad that everything worked out!

Reply | Quote

Charlotte:

Thanks for your input as well! As I mentioned to WSC, I really needed to get away from it all before settling down to work out your solutions. All is well now – Thanks again!
(BTW, I did include the notebook in the share – promising myself not to use db in anything but a “wired” configuration)

Reply | Quote