Specify Host doesn't show db list

[cinolas]

I have FMP server 5.0 running on a win2k server box. We use it internally (within the LAN) successfully.

We are now opening offices across the country and we need them to be able to connect to our databases. So far we accomplished that using Win2k server Terminal Services and it works fine and fast BUT we are having local printer mapping problems making it so that TS clients can't print from our database (in the TS session) to their local printer. we've tried everything to solve this issue without success... So we decided to try accessing the databases without TS using Specify Host from FMP.

From a WinXP station outside the LAN (FMP5.0v3, ISDN) we cannot see the DB list ! If I try from home (MacOS 10.1.5, FMP5.5Dev, ADSL) I can see the DBs no problem. The only firewall we are using (on the server side) is a router and the port 5003 is forwarded properly since I can access from home. I read the posts about this and found something about 5.0 needing the port 5003 UDP to be blocked while 5003 TCP being open... But with our router I can forward the port 5003 but i can't specify which protocol !

I also deactivated the FireWall in XP but it really shouldn't make a difference, I use a strict firewall at home and I didn't have to make a hole to see the dbs.

Forgot to specify that TCP is the active protocol at both end.

Any ideas ?

Thanks

[Will]

Just a thought but in addition to the O/S difference (Mac vs XP) between the computers you appear to be using to two different "network" providers (ISDN vs. ADSL) - maybe something along the route in the ISDN provider line is causing the problem? I assume you can at least ping the server from the XP machine. Can you take a laptop to the two locations and check access? I would also be curious to hear about your terminal services printer redirection problems.

Will

[cinolas]

I don't think the issue is OS related... nor connection related... I have tried connecting to our host from another remote location using ADSL, winXP and FMP50v3 and it doesn't work either. It really seems to have something to do with 5.0 - 5.5. But I'm not sure... Computers can ping each other with a time of about 100 ms.

About the local printer redirection problem... I just found out that a lot of HP printers (including our psc750) do not support network installation (only local USB connection) and therefore will not work with win2k's Terminal Services...

I read most posts about connecting to a remote FMP host and apparently it is much faster using terminal services than FMP's specify host (which is lame and kinda strange). So I pretty much gave up on the specify host workaround and will simply buy another printer !

Thanks for the help !

[cinolas]

A new hope.

I tested remote access speeds from home yesterday and it is actually faster than expected... There is a certain delay but I would say only twice as long as locally (which is pretty fast).

So here we are considering giving up on terminal services again... But because of the issue mentioned above we'd have to buy 5.5 or 6.0. Unless someone can suggest a way of solving our problem.

Problem Can't see list of db when connecting using specify host from 5.0 to our FMP Server 5.0. No such problem with 5.5.

Possible cause of problem : 5.0 needs the port 5003 UDP to be blocked (5003 TCP must be open off course). We cannot block protocol specific ports with our router and therefore cannot test this.

Thank you

[Jay G.]

A different paradigm (and, warning, a shameless plug for our software):

SyncDeK <http://www.syncdek.com>

You can set up a distributed database system. Each office runs a copy of the database *locally*. SyncDeK synchronizes changes between all copies of the database. This happens over encrypted email, so the connectivity and router port problem become non-issues.

Hope this is helpful as a description of a potential alternative.