Use databases "on-the-road" - What's the best way?

[HazMatt]

I have a set of 5 (or so) databases that are used for producing and printing calibration reports. We would like to use a laptop for doing this same thing on the road, but I'm struggling with exactly how to do that.

Ideally, VPN would be best, because the on-site laptop user would have access the the most current information and I wouldn't have to modify the databases at all. It would be as if they are plugged into the network. But, this system would have to work virtually anywhere in North America, so a cellular phone hookup or 802.11 wireless hookup would be too spotty.

I was interested in FileMaker Mobile, but my application seems too much for FileMaker Mobile to handle.

Which brings me to now. I have FileMaker Developer; would a runtime solution be good? The new information inputed on the road would have to be synchronized with the "master" databases back on the network. I also am thinking about simply copying the entire 30 databases over to the laptop and somehow synching the records after the fact, but am still trying to work that out. Any suggestions would be great!

[Anatoli]

Synchronizing is the biggest problem in such scenario. If you are on PC, you can try terminal services. There is even Mac client for this wonderful technology.

I was using that for year and it is blessing from Bill G.

[ddreese]

I'd second the terminal services idea. We just set up a term server, and it works rather well. We also have some 3g capable cellphones, and Verizon allows us to access the internet with them. Granted, it's slow, but in the more metro areas, it's comparable to a 56k or better.

Terminal server works suprisingly well over the slow connection. Lag is present, but tolerable.

[HazMatt]

I've never dealt with Terminal Services. How does it work exactly? Is it a program that connects to our network over a phone line, or is it a program that emulates the screen of another computer? What I'm hearing is that with Terminal Services, synchronization is not a need. Can this wonderful technology be reliable enough for anywhere?

[ddreese]

Terminal services is a remote computer connecting to, and controlling a server as if it was your own. Kind of like VNC, but the server runs different sessions, so you aren't actually moving the mouse and such on the server. That way, multiple users can also connect to and use it.

[edit]

To futher answer your question, as long as your internet connection is reliable, you will have a reliable connection to the database. No synchronization is required being that you are working on the database as if you were on the network in the first place.

Hope this helps

[Anatoli]

And if connection is dropped no big deal: TS FM session will finish the job and will wait for next connection.

If you drop line while directly connected to FM, anything can happen!

[HazMatt]

OK, so besides the challenges of upgrading our network system to get a Terminal Server (I'm unsure about this), how would the road-warrior actually connect? We would need a nation-wide cell-phone connection, I'm assuming. This system would need to be a very reliable connection, both in terms of coverage and signal strength.

If I can't satisfy all the requirements of this remote connection idea, I have to work up a fool-proof import / export script. And that, I'm not looking forward to.

[ddreese]

Believe me, I'm going to be facing a fool-proof import/export script in a few months for making our filemaker DB exchange information with our accounting package every night. Still not sure how I'm going to start it.

The road warrior will have a terminal services client program installed on their laptop. While connected to the internet (via dialup, cellphone, cable modem, whatever), they will start the term server client, punch in the IP, and you're set.

It will come up to the windows login screen as if you were starting your own computer up. You log in, and now you're controlling a session on the terminal server. If FM is installed on the terminal server, you can have the user access it as if he was a computer on the network (because he really is, he's just controlling it remotely).

The only problems you face are:

1. Buying and setting up the term server and FM software, and anything else they might want to use remotely.

2. Get a static public IP address for your terminal server. This can be done through your ISP, firewall configuration may be needed.

3. Get a reliable internet solution that works for you. Like I said before, the Verizon express network I use occasionally isn't a speed-demon, but it gets the job done.

[edit]

You don't even need a static public IP for the term server. However, your firewall must have a static, public IP. The firewall could then be configured to forward all traffic requests for port whatever (can't remember off the top of my head) to the internal IP of your term server.