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dasko
Asked: 2012-07-12 16:31:43 +0800 CST

MS Access Database slower than normal all of a sudden

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I have a client with an Access Database that has been experiencing slow queries in the past few days. Here is some background first.

  • it is currently running on Windows Server 2008
  • the mdb file is on the server and there are some local installed front end parts on the workstations.
  • we run over a gigabit ethernet and gigabit network switches
  • this server is used for basic file sharing too and those other services DO NOT seem to run slow or exhibit any issues.
  • this was working fine but has begun having slower queries or response times when you connect back to the database for queries.
  • we have not changed anything on the server or done any updates to either the server or the database front end installation.
  • we have always used a mapped drive letter to access it, both on the old server and on this new one, see next point for age of new server.
  • I know people will say stop using Access as a database but the client is using legacy software with NO path to upgrade and it was working, in a tolerable fashion, on this Server 2008 platform for about 1.5 years already.

My question is basically is there anything that I should be looking at that is maybe obvious but I might be missing? We tried moving the files to another partition on a faster raid array and we got the same results.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

windows-server-2008 microsoft-access database

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    I second Zoredache's question about compacting the mdb file. When our apps were all Access based, i used to use Microsoft's Jet Database command line tool. It works great and keeps you from having to open and close the mdb in Access which could take a bit if it is already having issues. Check it out here. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295334

    A few other things: How busy is the server itself? (age of it means nothing if it is getting slammed by some other process Are all the copies of Access running on the same version? It's possible there is some glitch on one of the workstations creating locks for the other users Is the database corrupt? (the jet tool can help with that)

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