Record Locking Issue/ Open Exclusive Mode

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CT - 05 Aug 2005 05:43 GMT

Hello. I have an Access 2003 .mde database FE and an Access 2003.mdb BE
setup for Client/Server installation. I have checked in the options to use
Record Level locking. If I open up the database in non-exclusive mode the
record level locking works fine. However, if I open up the database in
exclusive mode, the application then reverts to page level locking. It runs
using Access 2003 runtime but I get the same problem when I use the full
version of Access 2003. I open up the FE in exclusive mode so the users have
the ability to change the database password when using MS Access Runtime
2003. I saw a reference to a problem with Access 2000 record level locking
when opening using a shortcut but nothing on this specific issue and Access
2003. Any ideas?

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Larry Linson - 07 Aug 2005 22:14 GMT

What are you trying to protect with a database password, the front end on
the user's machine, or the back end? I don't think I have worked on any
client-server database applications that didn't use some combination of
user-group security and/or server database security.

Server security is what you must count on to protect your data; even Access'
best, the user and group level security, is vulnerable. Last I heard, a
"password recovery" software package (as they politely put it) ran under
US$150.

The database password is even more vulnerable and a "crack" will be even
less expensive. My suggestion is to create an MDE and use user and group
security, along with server security for the data.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

> Hello. I have an Access 2003 .mde database FE and an Access 2003.mdb BE
> setup for Client/Server installation. I have checked in the options to
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> Access
> 2003. Any ideas?

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Nikos Yannacopoulos - 08 Aug 2005 09:41 GMT

> The database password is even more vulnerable and a "crack" will be even
> less expensive

I've downloaded a free one form the net, and it cracks an .mdb password
in a split second! No brute force or anything, just reads it right off
the file!

Regards,
Nikos

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CT - 08 Aug 2005 14:51 GMT

I totally agree with your issue on security. However, I am protecting the
front end and other users going to another machine and viewing the patient
data. It is a commercial software package and this is a requirement. I also
like opening up the database in exclusive mode so the same user can not open
up the database multiple times on one computer and then get confused as to
which patient they are in, and also it makes compacting on close easy. My
issue is with the page locking vs. record locking when opened up in exclusive
mode. Why would opening up in exclusive mode revert to page level locking
when record level locking is checked?

> What are you trying to protect with a database password, the front end on
> the user's machine, or the back end? I don't think I have worked on any
[quoted text clipped - 29 lines]
> > Access
> > 2003. Any ideas?

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Larry Linson - 09 Aug 2005 00:34 GMT

> Why would opening up in exclusive
> mode revert to page level locking
> when record level locking is checked?

I wasn't aware that it did, though I can see that it would make no
difference in a monolithic database opened in exclusive use mode. That would
be a design decision that would only be known to The Boys and Girls in
Redmond, and they rarely discuss such design decisions, if indeed they
remember making them -- you have to realize that the same team that designed
some previous version of a given product may well be working on a different
product in the current development cycle.

http://www.mvps.org/access/api/api0041.htm describes preventing multiple
instances, so you can eliminate opening in exclusive use if this is
important to you.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP

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