Hi..

I'm started developing a web site in ASP (Vbscript) and MS Access. As I have been developing, I've read a few messages on the net concerning MS Access's limited multi-user support. Now, I don't know if that also applies for web application which will mostly be reading from the database and querying.

I'm making a web site very similar to www.canadatrader.com.

On another note, when I finished entering car models into the db, there was 1200 models and the DB weighed in at 360 KB. Then I just added a Number field and entered "1" for all 1200 records into that new number field and now my DB is 5mb. Is that normal?

Basically, I just want to know if MS Access will run ok if many people are visiting the site. I'm expecting a lot people to visit the site considering there will be a lot of advertising involved when the site is complete.

Thanks a lot..

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redtag | auto
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Don't expect professional results with a non-professional tool. Shared Windows hosting accts w/SQL Server are almost as cheap as Linux hosting - and your Access DB is probably basic enough that the SQL Server upsize wizard will actually work.

Regards,
Brent

So you're saying I should use MS SQL Server instead of MS Access?

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redtag | auto
www.redtagauto.com

I agree with Brent.

If possible start now with My sql and build your site using it.

I only use access for small personal sites. Anything that is going to be commercial is on either My SQL or SQL Server.

If you do stay with access, try using the compact database tool (available from the tools tab in access) once you have completed the db build to compress it before uploading it to your server.

Regards
Vince

Visit my home: www.chez-vince.com

VBScript | ASP | HTML | SQL | Oracle | Hosting

My twopence worth:

If it's a big busy site, go with MySQL, Oracle or SQL Server.

However, you can probably get away with Access on a site that only has a moderate number of visitors. I have read varying opinions stating that Access can cope OK with 5 to 20 concurrent users. Bear in mind that if a visitor spends an average of 15 minutes at a time on your site, even at the lower limit, spread over 12 hours a day that your site might see peak use that translates to about 7,000 visitors a month (5 x 4 x 12 x 30 = 7,200). The problem with this is that if your site has very peaky usage pattern, gets very high use over a short period of the day, while remaining fairly quiet for the rest you need the database to be able to cope with the peak use.

What you are using the database for will make a big difference to the load placed on it. If the entire site is dynamic and all the content produced from the database then every page view will have an impact on the database. On the other hand, if most of the pages are static, but there are a couple of pages that use the database, perhaps a registration page, sign up for a newsletter etc. then most of the site will have no impact on the database.

SQL Server hosting plans needn't break the bank, there are some reasonable deals out there that would allow you to develop with SQL Server from the outset, rather than re-developing and up-sizing later. As site usage increases and the need for better performace rises you can move to a better hosting plan with less populaed servers or even to a dedicted solution if required.

Regards

Owen.

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Edited by - oeastwick on 15 Apr 2003 15:05:48

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
I agree with Brent.

If possible start now with My sql and build your site using it.

I only use access for small personal sites. Anything that is going to be commercial is on either My SQL or SQL Server.

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote></font id=quote><font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size=2 id=quote>

I've never used MySQL before. Can I use MySQL on an NT server? I only know how to program in ASP so Ihave to stick to NT server unless maybe my host can install SunOne (chilisoft).

Now that I remember, I tried using mySQL once, for NT server (found a tutorial on the net) but I couldn't figure it out.

Do you know of a "MySQL for Dummies" tutorial or book?

Thanks.

___________________
redtag | auto
www.redtagauto.com

If you're worried about taxing out the Access database, consider caching the data that you actually need from the database into an application variable.

For instance, my site content only changes every few days. Just to be on the safe side I set the cache to expire every fifteen minutes. So when a user hits the page it checks to see if the cache is expired. If it is then (and only then) it will query the database and refresh the data in the application variables.

This way the access database doesn't have to deal with frequent hits.

For more information check out www.aspfaqs.com/aspfaqs/ShowFAQ.asp?FAQID=142

Hope this helps!

Why be difficult when you can be impossible?