It's my understanding that MSDE does not enforce a limit on connections. It just allows up to 5 processes (queries, SPs, etc) to run simultaneously. In other words, if you put a load on MSDE because of 10 or 15 users (or connections), then any calls to the DB over 5 are queued and will not start until one of the 5 active processes finishes.

Now, given that [hopefully] any single process or query might take only a fraction of a second, you can potentially get above 5 users without anyone even noticing any delays. In fact, I remember reading a post by someone that they had 25 users working against an MSDE database with no complaints.

Microsoft doesn't say "limited to 5 users." Instead, they say "optimized for up to 5 users."

Guy



>>>Hi all,
>>>
>>>Has anyone use MSDE as the backend database? Is there any licensing issues? What will be the performance problem compare using VFP? 1 of our developer suggested this and I will like to make sure it's workable for the client. Is it possible to share a connection for all users?
>>>
>>>Thanks and Regards
>>
>>yes our clients use MSDE. It is freeware and handle till five connections. When you use it with ASP.Net, this is the perfect combination because ASP.Net use only one connection.
>
>Thanks for the info. When you said up to five connections, can u please elaborate? I presumed users can share connections but what is the implication for sharing?
>
>Thanks.