help settle a problem

[the walker]

we are about upgrade our server and we want to know which config would be best

we have a g4 500 with 512 megs of ram max os 10 server latest edition

and a g3 333 with 360 megs or ram with latest jaguar

the g4 will running file sharing and an imap email server

the g3 will be running nothing

which would be the best machine to run filemaker server on

regarding reliability stability and speed

cheers for all the help

[CobaltSky]

Hi,

The most important consideration in hosting your db is stability, and anything you can do to maximize up-time and minimize the chance of crashes (and the attendant risk of file corruption) is worth doing. Running other processes on the same machine as Server is not recommended.

The next highest priority is the I/O performance because it is in this area that Server places its main demands. Again, running on a machine which is not as fast, but where Server can command 100% of the I/O capability is likely to be several times as good as making it compete for I/O on a somewhat faster machine.

The third consideration is processor speed, because Server is not actually highly processor intensive, as in general much of processing is done at the client end and the host just handles the shunting back and forth of data etc.

The least iimportant consideration is memiry. The fact that the G3 machine has less memory is immaterial - Server is not especially memory hungry and in fact its performance can deteriorate if you give it more than the recommended memory allocation to manage. 360Mb is more than adequate.

So all in all I'd suggest the G3 333 would be the better option, given the various considerations you've outlined.

[cjaeger]

take the g3 and use as dedicated FileMaker server. This way there are no conflicting network services running and disk access is almost exclusive to FileMaker. Processor Speed is not crucial to FM server, since most processing is done on the client. You might get mor RAM if you are serving really big databases, so more of the data can be cached for faster access...

[the walker]

so the general feeling is keep it on a dedicated server

thats cool

[the walker]

can i have a few more peoples views on this as i need more backup along the lines of above, i have put these arguments abbove to the network manager and he seems to think it will be fine on the g4 even though there are obvious advantages to putting it on to the g3

please put them straight

[Fitch]

You may already know about this:

http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/fms_best_practices.pdf

And you better know about this:

http://www.filemaker.com/ti/108428.html

[paulage77]

Most assurdly the G3 if you are running OS X. All in all I like Server on OS X, but any variables you introduce can end up being a nightmare. Also, no matter what you decide on turn off all sleep/hibernating activities on your X server if you plan on backing up constantly.

[paulage77]

Let me clarify, but X server I just mean whatever tower you decide to you use.