Hi,

If a client decides to host the solution within thier network via filemaker server 13 does the client need a dedicated IP to have outside user log into their solution ?

for WAN access to the server you will need a static public IP or at the very least a service that will update the DNS registry should your ISP rotate your given IP.

I have used https://dyn.com/dns/ to facilitate that to a residential cable service, and even have a SSL Certificate installed.

I strongly recommend that you try to persuade your client to upgrade to a more current version that is supported and which would be more secure and performant. 

Thank you.

On 4/30/2018 at 10:20 PM, Mr. Ignoramus said:

Hi,

If a client decides to host the solution within thier network via filemaker server 13 does the client need a dedicated IP to have outside user log into their solution ?

Exposing a v13 FM server to the internet may not be smartest approach. There are other, more secure ways to provide access.

Teamviewer can be used to remote in to a dedicated workstation and gain access to the FM server. Benefit is that a dynamic IP address is a non-issue. There are others such as Logmein that provide the same sort of functionality. Another benefit of this approach is that the FileMaker data never leaves the premises.

Alternatively, a VPN can be used which can either terminate on the clients internet gateway/router or on the FM server. You would need either a static IP address or use dynamic DNS. DynDns.org is, as Ocean West indicated, a well known provider, but there are heaps more.

 

You might be better off knowing the UPLOAD speed of the client's internet connection.

Whilst it's difficult to give exact numbers I wouldn't consider anything less than 10Mb/s useful except for remote-in methods. It's also not clear how many users are expected.

Other factors include the ping response time and the number of router hops between client and server.

At the very least test the experience first and get an opinion on performance.

20 hours ago, IdealData said:

You might be better off knowing the UPLOAD speed of the client's internet connection.

Whilst it's difficult to give exact numbers I wouldn't consider anything less than 10Mb/s useful except for remote-in methods. It's also not clear how many users are expected.

Other factors include the ping response time and the number of router hops between client and server.

At the very least test the experience first and get an opinion on performance.

I have to disagree here.

Upload AND download speed play a role, but you can have a synchronous 1GB link to your ISP and still not get more 1Mbps throughput. Interconnects, distance, all play a role.

Ping response times can be deceiving, indicating a good link when using small packets, but when connecting with anything else it may fail. In fact, pings will mask routing errors, giving the appearance that there's a functional path whilst in reality there's not.

Router hops is mostly insignificant. You can have a link with 5 hops and high latency, or a link with 30 hops and low latency. The latter vastly outperforming the former. Satelite links are a good example, often showing 800ms+ latency with just a few hops.

We've used a 10M/10M link for years at the place where I work, only recently (couple months ago) upgrading to 30/30. My home connection is ADSL2 with 7M/384k. Works fine when using an iPad FileMaker app connected via a VPN back to the office. Of course, it's easy to saturate the uplink. And Skype can be troublesome, but it still works.

 

 

The client found a local person to get his server up and running and I am logging in as normal.

Thank you everybody.