Lasso or Lasso and Unlimited

[LVA]

I have a solution using Windows , FileMaker Server 5 on the server computer and Filemaker Pro 5.5 on the client computers. This solution need to be read on the companies intranet . I would like to use Lasso. The doubt is if I need the web server machine to have Lasso and FM Unlimited or only Lasso ?

Does someone know ?

[cmartin]

If you want more than ten IP addresses able to access the solution within 24 hours, you will need FM Unlimited, regardless of whether or not you have Lasso. I think.

Courtney

[LVA]

Is Lasso a product used by Web developers just to build web sites ?

Doesn't it have a web server ?

Is a web solution possible only having Lasso on the web server ? Do I need some other program ?

[cmartin]

I'm sorry. I don't know enough about Lasso to answer all that. But I am fairly confident that anytime you want any internet-based solution with more than 10 IP addresses in 24 hours, you need FM Unlimited.

[JerrySalem]

I have also been stepping into the noose, er lasso...

From my research here is my understanding of what you need;

Lasso Professional is used to serve the database (much like FMserver) to the site,

FMUnlimited to server the database

Lasso Studio to design the website (actually this helps build the web site/database integration)

Dreameaver etc.... design the website.

In terms of HW, I am fairly sure you can get away with a shared box for Lasso Professional and FMU. If traffic increases, a dedicated box for Lasso and FM each would be faster.

Jerry

[smphoto]

I have deployed a couple of Lasso solutions.

Here are the details:

Lasso must be installed on a webserver. The webservers it currenlty works with are Microsoft IIS and Mac OS X - Apache.

It installs fairly easily, but there might be some configuration issues.

Once it is installed, you have to configure it to see the the database you want to share over the web.

You can run FMP Unlimited / FMP regular on the same machine as the web server, but there might be some performance issues.

A dedicated machine to run Filemaker or Filemaker Unlimited as the lone application with the window open and selected so that it is in front is best. If FMP database runs behind other apps or is not selected, it will be much slower to serve the data to the requests from Lasso. You then set the database file to share through web companion. You have to configure web companion. Set it to share on Port 591 instead of the standard Port 80. That way you won't conflict with any web server software on the machine. Also, the machine has to have a static IP address.

Then, configure lasso to find the database at ipaddress:591. (ex. 192.168.1.50:591).

For licensing purposes, you must have a copy of FileMaker unlimited. It is the same as Filemaker but the IP address limit in a 12 hour period is not limited to 10. It installs with a different serial number which unlocks the ip address limit. However, since only the Lasso machine will be contacting the FMP web shared database, it only counts one IP address. For testing purposes this is allowed. Also, if there are less than 10 users accessing the database over the intranet, you will stay within the legality of the license.

Then you have to custom code the pages and place them in the web directory of the Lasso/webserver. If it is Microsoft IIS, there might be more configuration that is needed.

An alternative to all that is to build the web pages using CDML code which is actually Lasso version 1.0. It can do about 80% of what Lasso can do as far as searching, adding and updating records goes. It is limited in its handling of portals however. It can display them, but updating or adding to them is very messy.

All you need for a web server then is FileMaker unlimited for more than 10 IP's, or regular filemaker for less than 10 IP's. FMP and FMP unlimited uses the web companion as a web server. It can also host static web pages.

I hope that answers some questions. Sorry for the long-winded response.

Maxbiz

[Anatoli]

Let me add:

1.

RE: If FMP database runs behind other apps or is not selected, it will be much slower to serve the data to the requests from Lasso.

On single machine I didn't found any speed issues. The front application must be browser for testing. Lasso and IIS are running as services. That leaves FM in background, but these days all machines are powerful enough. Only on Mac OS it will be issue.

On our NT web server we are running FM as background application and it is incredibly fast, serving 10 or more transactions per second of CPU time.

2.

In live situation protect the 591 port of webcompanion from outside access.