The ODBC architecture of Microsoft Access is simpler than the typical server architecture. The following figure illustrates the ODBC architecture of Access and other single tier ODBC drivers.
Single Tier ODBC Architecture
Note that there is no database server computer, client support layer, or network in the previous figure. The Access ODBC driver works directly on the database file. In this simple configuration, the database file is located on the same computer as the application. By using Microsoft networking, Novell networks, and the like, the database file could be located on another computer just like any other shared file. In this way, an Access database could be shared among several computers and applications.
