I am currently running Filemaker server on a Windows NT server.

I want make a switch and serve my databases on a 500 Mhz Mac G4 with 800 MB Ram.

I am running Filemaker server on OS X but in the classic environment.

I have had the same problems running FM on OS 9 on a G3 with a lot of ram etc

My knowledge in FM server is limited, but I do know that running apps in classic mode makes it unbearibly slooow. Also, the processor probably wont make that big of a difference but HDD speed and RAM will.

The hardware you have sound OK to me. We have files served from a G4 350 (way old) and they are just fine.

ken

First of all 400MB RAM allocated to FM Server is WAAAAAAYYYYY overkill, 40MB MAX is all it needs and even then I would start with like 8-16MB. Filemaker serves database directly off the disk and not out of RAM so the additional RAM allocation is just more work for the processor.

The 40MB cache is probably too much as well. The recommendation is to start the cache at 5% of your total database size.

Running on OS X in Classic mode is guaranteed to make life difficult for you. Either test this on an OS9 machine only or get Filemaker Server 5.5 or 6 both of which will install an OS X version.

You also want to make sure that you strip the extensions down to the bare minimum for OS9. The unneeded extensions simply use up processor cycles and in some cases can cause conflicts and poor performance.

Also make sure that Filemaker Server application is in the Foreground on OS9 and NOT the desktop. Peek-A-Boo is an app by Clarkwood Software which allows you to set processor priorities to applications and prevent Finder from taking priority away from Filemaker Server.

What versions of Filemaker are being run on the desktops?

Although I am advocate of FM server on NT/W2K, your problem is not in performance of FM, but additional performance hits as Kurt just described.

I can say that on NT/W2K are not variables, which can be wrongly set. So you are at 80-100% of available speed.

IMHO -- also running Classic on X is not so robust as X, Linux or NT.

If you want to beat NT class machine, you have to have X or Linux and tuned that to the best you can.

And also G4 is faster on Photoshop, than PIII, but not in all computing tasks.

Disks are the most important parts, then speed of memory, speed of network and then processor.

Is it just me, or is this the WRONG place for this question?

Perhaps this should be relocated to another board, say maybe the "Filemaker Server" forum?

Perhaps. I have seen this happen more than once. I guess they see feedback and support and don't realize it is forum-specific.

Seems of little concequence, though. You must be one of those people that have their socks in perfect little squares, the toilet paper roll setup with the opening out and squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom-up.

We have had two problems, at different times, with similiar symptoms. Possibly one or the other description might provide a clue for your solution.

In one case, the problem turned out not to be a FileMaker problem nor an NT problem nor a network problem. It was the ethernet card that comes stock with the G4 of last year's vintage. (I don't know how old your G4 is or if they still use the same card.) In a nutshell, the card was querying the network at a much faster cycle speed than what all the network equipment was able to understand resulting in an inablity to stay in synch. The solution was to install a slower, third party ethernet card in the G4 -- and the family became functional again.

In the other case, it was a network problem. In the "closets" where the network wiring and routing equipment lives, there are apparently plug-in devices called biscuits. The culprit in this case was a biscuit that was only capable of 10mps while everything else was capable of and set to 100mps. (Don't scream if I have the wrong abbreviation; I'm not exactly a network guru!)

These are often times the kinds of things that you need to look for.

How about this story: A client expanded into a new adjecent suite for more employees. I installed the network wiring and configured the computers. A couple of weeks go by and couple of the computers kept falling off the network. I go through everything and nothing solves the problem, until a wet and rainy day when I am checking the cabling once more. I feel a small shock. Well now I am onto something, it turns out to be a powerstrip that someone had hooked up to the computer, which had the ground plug cut off, so the system was grounding through the NIC.

Or: Another client with a cronically ill laptop. Sent to me to diagnose and fix. Everytime I look at it I cannot find a thing wrong. I do some tuneups, reinstall the OS, etc. He sends it back once more, so I just RMA the thing and get him sent a new one. Same problems, so he sends it back to me and I again cannot find anything wrong. It turns out that the electrical wiring in his new office is bad.

What was the point of all of this? You need to remember to look outside of the box, as this is often times where problems occur.

When in doubt take the system to your own offices and see if the problem persists.