ODBC performance question

We are currently using an access database front end, under MS Windows to produce reports from and Informix SE database on a unix server. We use Visionware's SQL Retriever to provide the ODBC link to the Informix database. Hardware : Server - Sun Server 690 Client - Gateway 2000 486DX-66 (16 Mb RAM) Software : Server - Sunos V4.1.2 - Informix SE V4.10 - Visionware's ODBC driver as supplied with SQL Retriever Client - WFW 3.11 - MS Access V2.0 - SQL Retriever V3.01.9 The problem we are having is performace. Simple queries are fast, however if a number of tables are joined and various max(field_x) & sum(field_y) are used then the time taken is much longer. I understand that any max() and sum() will ineviatbly take longer, but my point is that these queries seem to take even longer than they would take to run as a SQL statement run directly on the server. 1) Which machine crunches the max() or sum() - then client or the server ? If it is the server why does it take significantly longer to use ODBC than it would to run a SQL statement directly on the server. If it is the client does this mean that all rows from the relevant tables are shipped over the network to the P.C. for it to work out the max() which would mean that a busy network could be a bottleneck. 2) Is it Access that makes a meal of the formatting. 3) Does the fact that I have the 'Use only one server per application' check box set in the ODBC setup have anything to do with it. Does this relate in any way to the number of rpc.infsqld processes that run on the server ? 4) Any other reasons why my Client-Server setup seems to be slower than a 'server only' query (even on a busy server). I thought Client-Server should be faster. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks in advance .. -- _______________________________________________________________________________ Adam Middlemass (amm@booth.com) | Computer Development, Booth & Co. Solicitors | Tune in, Turn on, Burn out. Sovereign House, PO Box 8, Leeds, LS1 1HQ, UK | - The Sisters of Mercy