Possible Performance Issues for network users

Possible Performance Issues for Network Users

(Last updated 2002/11/13 ) The following suggestions are known to cause performance issues in some network multi-user environments.

Place Database (MDB) on the root of the network share rather than several folders down

Shortening the path. The mapped network path should be as direct as possible (S:\Atlas.mdb) and not under several sub directories or long named directories (S:\Server1\application data\Program Files\Classic Software\CAdmin\Atlas.mdb). The more direct the path mapping the faster the network can respond to each access of the database. The deeper the paths the slower access to shared files causeing unnecessary network delays. Access 2000/Windows 2000-Slow Performance Novell reports the same problem in TID10065312 MS access database run from NetWare server excessively slow.

Updates to ODBC Driver can cause slow connections to databases on a network

BUG: Excessive Network Activity When Using Access ODBC Driver (Q246560) Microsoft Access ODBC driver and opening a Microsoft Access database file on a network share - an excessive amount of network packet activity occurs, even when the ODBC connection is idle. The PageTimeout setting for the ODBC data source in the ODBC connection string is set too low. The driver incorrectly uses a default value of 5 for PageTimeout. The correct default value should be 5000

Apply Microsoft Updates Uniformly

Several Microsoft service packs and product updates change the ODBC drivers and data connectors install on the workstation. This is especially true with for Windows 2000 SP3 and Office XP. To find out which version of updates are installed check the version of the the file msjet40.dll usually found in the c:\Windows\system32 directory. Using different driver versions can cause several performance issues ( speed and locking conflicts) and even increase risk of database corruptions.

The current release, Jet 4.0 SP6, would match the file below. These files were updated on April 15, 2002. There were several previous updates to Jet 4.0. The current Jet update includes the updates from previous Jet 4.0 service packs.

File Name	Version	Size
The latest release, Jet 4.0 SP6, would match the file below. These files were updated on April 15, 2002
msjet40.dll	4.0.6218.0	1,503,504
The first and second release, Jet 4.0 SP3, contained the following files. The second release was October 11, 1999
msjet40.dll	4.0.2927.4	1,495,312
The third release, Jet 4.0 SP4 (April 26, 2000)
msjet40.dll	4.0.3714.7	1,499,408
he fourth release, Jet 4.0 SP5 (October 26, 2000)
msjet40.dll	4.0.4431.1	1,503,504

To download the latest version see: ACC2000: Updated Version of Microsoft Jet 4.0 Available in Download Center (Q239114) This article enables you to download Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service Pack 6 (SP6). There are four versions of the SP6 download depending on which windows version you are running.

Opportunistic Locking (oplocks) on the Network File Server

Microsoft has discovered an issue where opportunistic locking can increase the risk of Jet database corruption when the file is shared by two or more clients on a network file server. This issue applies to Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, and Novell file servers that support opportunistic locking. This issue also applies to clients that are running Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft Windows 2000, or Microsoft Windows XP that connect to a file server that supports opportunistic locking. For all the details on this topic see Q300216

Windows 2000 - To avoid the problem on computers that are running Windows 2000, you must install Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 (SP3) on the Windows 2000 file server where the Access database file is located. Q260910 How to Obtain the Latest Windows 2000 Service Pack

Windows XP - To avoid the problem on computers that are running Windows XP, install the hotfix that is mentioned in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article on each Windows XP client computer that connects to the file server where the Access database is located. Q309376 A Long Time Is Needed to Open a File By Using SMB

Windows NT - If you are using Windows NT 4.0 or you do not want to install Windows 2000 SP3 or the Windows XP hotfix, you can disable opportunistic locking to avoid the problem

Virus Scanning

Ensure your virus scanning software only checks local drives and not network drives. One report stated twenty second queries took five minutes or fifteen times as long. Let the server's ant-virus software monitor the server.
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