Hi,

I've been reading on Filemakers site trying to figure out which filemaker we need were I work. I work in this guys home office where he has 4 computers and a laptop networked. If we both want to be able to access the database, from any of the 5 computers, do we need 5 Filemaker pro licenses? I thought that I had read that the regular FileMaker Pro would allow up to 10 before you had to buy Server. Am I totally loony here?

Thanks,

Joe

FMP (acting as server software) can cope with 10 users, but each user needs their own licensed copy of FMP (acting as client software).

FM Server can cope with 250 users.

You probably don't need Server unless:

a) you have a lot of files in your solution -- FileMaker can open 50 files max, but a second computer could not open all 50 files with peer-to-peer networking. With 5 machines you might get away with 20 files.

: you want a reliable automatic backup system. Server can pause the databases and back them up. Without server you have to be very careful to not backup files that have been left open -- this will lead to corrupted backups. Ask your boss if his data is worth $1000. If so, buy Server.

You really are supposed to have one copy of Filemaker Pro per computer. However if only two of you really work there, then 2 licenses should be fine. This is required so that you can both run the software at the same time. Just install the two licenses so that you are not both using a copy with the same license number at the same time.

Thanks everyone for the info. I'll just have to break the news to him gently. Here is a related question:

If we're both working and need to access the database at the same time, as long as we have different licenses we can do that right? I guess I'm just confirming that we'll both be able to use the database at the same time as long as we aren't looking at the same record. Correct?

Thanks,

Joe

Yes, FileMaker's multi-user capability allows multiple users to access the database provided each user is licensed. You can even look at the same records (the restriction is that only one person may modify a record at a time)