Re: Oracle DB via Access - Still C/S?

"Jason W. Paul" <nobody_at_nowhere.com> wrote in message news:3e4d77e2$0$27927$a0465688_at_nnrp.fuse.net...
>
> "Steve Jorgensen" <nospam_at_nospam.nospam> wrote in message
> news:rrqq4vkntcimrsuidvija6v3mcdjd0dd96_at_4ax.com...
> > On Fri, 14 Feb 2003 18:09:02 -0330, Tim Marshall <Sabot_at_Spam.On>
> > wrote:
> >
> > >Crossposted to comp.databases.ms-access and comp.databases.oracle.tools
> > >
> > >I do plenty of apps with Access as the application and Oracle as the
> > >database using ODBC and Access SQL against linked Oracle tables as well
> > >as Access pass through queries (using Oracle SQL against the ODBC DSN).
> > >
> > >Is such an arrangement still considered to be a client server
> > >application? This question may belie my uncertainty about the exact
> > >definitions of a client server application (what I believe most of the
> > >Omnis/Oracle, Powerbuilder/Oracle I am familiar with are) versus a file
> > >server app.
> > >
> > >Thanks in advance for any comments on this subject. I apologise for
the
> > >cross post, but felt the question was relevant to both groups.
> >
> > The conventional definition of C/S with regard to database
> > applications refers to the fact that there is a database server
> > process running on the request of a client application. Oracle
> > vertainly is a database server! Therefore, using Access as a
> > ffront-end to Oracle is unquestionably C/S.
>
> I disagree. In a lot (lot more than I care to accept) of situations, if
> you're using linked tables, the brain-dead Jet engine decides that
> the server shouldn't do any processing and will drag *huge* amounts
> of data, kicking and screaming (to the chagrin of your network folks
> and DBA) across the wire -- essentially negating the entire C/S model.

What utter rubbish. One would almost have to be trying to make this happen. This sort of commentary typically comes from hearing some three times-removed anecdote about a particularly nightmarish experience and then extrapolating that to a universal maxim.

The process of using ODBC from Access to a server databse is very simple. You set your query using the simplest method (Access query against a linked table) and then you evaluate the results. If it performs badly or appears to pull more data than should be necessary then you examine the alternatives for improvement. The vast majority of the time it is the construct of the query and/or the proper implementation of idexes that dictates how the query performs. There are times when changing to Pass-Throughs or Stored Procedures will yield significant performance gains, but this is a small minority of the time. Received on Sat Feb 15 2003 - 17:08:33 CET