[Lazarus] MS Access file - is it 'accessible' concurrently ?

Graeme Geldenhuys graemeg.lists at gmail.com
Wed Sep 7 20:54:09 CEST 2011


On 07/09/2011, Lukasz Sokol  wrote:
>
> Can I open the same database and access (read/write)
> the same (few) table(s) from 2 or more concurrently
> running programs (written in Lazarus of course) using
> the MDB (MS Office Access) as the underlying file?


Short answer is Yes you can..... but....

Long answer: ...that was not its indented use! We have a system where
30-40 clients connect to a single MDB file on a network share. The
only reason we are getting this right is because there is a very small
chance that any of those clients will access the same data. This
behaviour was known at design time. Also, our system was designed
using VB6 some 13 years ago, and still running today (but hopefully
not for too long still).

Back then we didn't have as much choice in cheap [and reliable]
database servers, so opted for MS Access. If you are starting a
client/server program today, I would highly recommend you rather use a
real RDBMS. Firebird RDBMS is an excellent choice. It's dirt cheap
(free), and is very small to deploy, and the server doesn't need much
in terms of maintenance. MS SQL-Server on the other hand is very
expensive, you need a well trained DB Admin to manage and maintain it,
and is a *huge+complex* install. I'm certified in MS SQL Server too.

Yes I know MS SQL-Server now has a "baby" version which is cheaper or
free. But why settle for a "limited functionality" RDBMS when Firebird
RDBMS is the full blown thing, has excellent stability, excellent
performance and FREE.

-- 
Regards,
  - Graeme -


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