Sbs 2011

[Disturbedguy]

Hi guys,

Someone has asked me for some help in regards to SBS 2011 but I have limited knowledge in regards to SBS 2011 so I thought I would ask here.

This person has set up a group policy at work, that when users log on they receive a new copy of a database, the database gets delivered however the clients db's keep coming up with "db needs repairing", this keeps coming up through the day. It doesn't happen on any set machine at any set interval from what I can gather, it will happen on different machines throughout the day.

Anyone got any ideas?

[Splash]

What kind of database? How is it delivered (to local disk, network share etc)? Don't think this is likely to be SBS specific tbh.

[Disturbedguy]

What kind of database? How is it delivered (to local disk, network share etc)? Don't think this is likely to be SBS specific tbh.

That's what I thought, as the database doesn't actually have any issues as she checked when the warnings came up.

I will get answers to the other questions.

[Disturbedguy]

Had a reply, hope this makes sense -

Access front end, stored on sbs2011 server, 'replaces' local copy using full server path on group policy (user file, not computer file).

[Splash]

Access front end? Suggesting an ODBC connection to a backend (SQL? Oracle?) hosted centrally on the SBS box, I assume? Correct version of the Access runtime installed on the clients?

[Disturbedguy]

Thanks for the reply, the answers I've been given are -
Backend is MySQL on completely separate linux box (whose sole function is MySQL). Access all correct, no issues when group policy is disabled

[badass]

MySQL on an access front end?
My guess is that isn't helping. MS software often doesn't play nice with other vendors software.
However the whole thing sounds fishy. A database on a linux box is copied to a local location every time the user logs on and accessed through the MS access runtime?

This sounds very much like the shall I use the glass bottle or old shoe problem

[Disturbedguy]

MySQL on an access front end?
My guess is that isn't helping. MS software often doesn't play nice with other vendors software.
However the whole thing sounds fishy. A database on a linux box is copied to a local location every time the user logs on and accessed through the MS access runtime?

This sounds very much like the shall I use the glass bottle or old shoe problem

Thanks for that, clearly helps in finding a solution.

[Moby-Dick]

from a logic point of view if you copy a *running* database to a new location and start it up with a different client - there is a good chance that the DB will come up in a "dirty" state.

try this foryourself ... find a ( non production SQL server ) and switch it off. When you power it back on , you'll see a bucketload of messages in the event log as SQL goes through a check to ensure that the database is consistent and that the last commited transactions are good.

I also might have got the wrong end of the stick here. why does the access component need such frequent updates if the data is being held in Mysql.

Martin, I was running Access front end with a sybase back end 13 years ago - it works fine , whats what ODBC does

[scaryjim]

I think you need to find out exactly what is being copied. If there's a database running on MySQL that *shouldn't* be being copied - the Access application should be accessing the central db through ODBC. If it's the Access app itself that's being copied (which seems more likely) you need to find out why.

My best guess at the situation is this: a "master" copy of the Access app is stored on a shared server. This app is sometimes updated for business reasons, and the owner of the db wants to make sure people always use the latest version. So there's a group policy to drop a copy of the app into the user's workspace (desktop/documents folder/wherever) every time they log on, to make sure they have the latest version. If that's the case, it's most likely to be a transient network or disk issue that means that occasionally the Access app gets corrupted during the copying process.

And frankly, that about as much brain power as I can afford to put into it, since sorting out that kind of problem is one of the things I charge people (very reasonable amounts of) money for...

[Disturbedguy]

Cheers for the replies guys.

What scaryjim said is what i thought, some network issue somewhere causing this to happen. Had it been set machines, I would have said it was the machines.

Also, in regards to why it needs such frequent updates, the company sell printers and consumables and such so I think this database would be the one that stores stock information (could possibly be client information but I would suspect this would be a different db for security reasons).

One thing I did think of, although I am not sure how valid it might be, if they are using VOIP phones (network cable into phone, cable to PC) when the users receive calls or hang up, could this cause the DB to think its lost connection, in which case it thinks the DB is corrupt? :/

[scaryjim]

Hmmm, VOIP phones should have no impact at all. That whole system sounds like an odd setup tbh, they shouldn't need to change the front end just for stock information. I reckon they need to get someone in to look at it properly: whatever's going on it's not quite right. I know it wasn't very useful to you, but badass's "glass bottle, old shoe" point has a lot of resonance. If they're meant to have a distributed database-driven inventory app but they're regularly copying data around instead of accessing it from a single point, something's not been set up right...

[Disturbedguy]

One of the issues is, from my understand and opinion, he didn't get a professional in to install the stuff in the first place or if they did, they ripped him off. From what I have heard a lot of the stuff is bodged jobs and the person I know has been working to fix this stuff since they have started.

I'm still waiting for more information based on your earlier reply and Moby's answer.

[Disturbedguy]

Ok so I got some more information -

I have a copy of the Access front end on my PC.
When I make changes, I copy it to the server (L drive).
When users log on, I want them to get a new copy of the FE database – I got told to use ‘Group Policies’.
I set up the Group Policy to copy the database from //server/database/database.mdb to C:/database/database.mdb – this works fine.
Randomly throughout the day, it would get ‘corrupted’ errors or ‘record locked’ – which I understand cos obviously if you try replacing a file that’s in use, issues.
I found a setting in the group policy rules that says it disables refreshing, and only runs the group policy when the user logs in. – I enabled that.
It says in it that ‘the pc needs to be restarted for this setting to take effect – but doesn’t specify client or server.
After rebooting the clients, still had the ‘corrupt’ issue.
After rebooting the server, some users still randomly get the same issue. – I asked about this, some users have simply stopped telling the person and just click the "ok" button

There isn’t an issue in the copying process – all users get a new copy of the db and it works – to begin with.
Then all of a sudden the ‘corrupt’ appears.
Close the DB, re-open and it tells you it needs repairing.
Repair it, and it works fine until next time.


Various Operating Systems in use - Win 7 32 and 64bit along with Win XP

It never happens on the machine the person uses as a test machine, although they don't use it all that much.

As some extra information, the server has the latest copy which is pushed to the user, the user's don't / shoudn't be making any changes, if they do make them, they are lost when it next updates anyway.

It look's like it could be something to do with the Group Policy, more importantly to do with the setting where it by default refreshes every 90 minutes and then a random time of 0 - 30 minutes to help stop flooding I assume.

The last time it was running, was Thursday, the user logged in at around 08:30 and the error occurred between 10:15 and 10:30 which fits in with the default 90 + random up to 30 minutes thing.

[Moby-Dick]

how often does the Front end change ?

[Disturbedguy]

Usually a fresh copy would be put on the server each night, however a new copy has not been put on the server for 2 - 3 weeks as some major changes are being made to the version on the persons machine.