Very Slow over DSL VPN

[Orsi]

Hi there, this is my first post and I have developed a System with 20+ tables with many relationships. I have 15 clients FM 5.0 and a FM 5.5 Server. So far the performance (local Lan was perfect). We had to access the files through a VPN (W2K)over a 256k dsl connection. But just to open the 20+ files is taking 15 minutes, when the Lan time is less than 10 sec. I do not have a clue of what is wrong! The only thing I noticed is that any other use of the DSL connection the tranfer rates are much higher... when I am using only FM it goes really slow (1/10th of the transfer rate approx.) Any ideas?

[Leb i Sol]

it is just the way it is with the that many files....also that VPN config. might be messed up...network-ports-firewall-protocol - are 3x checked?

W2K has a little VPN tool that sould help tweak it...requires install on client stations.....

[Anatoli]

Go for Terminal Services -- best concept from Microsoft so far

We have here 512k VPN and it is still slow. Only the databases, where design part is local and only data travel from FM server and back are fast. But they were fast also on 128k line.

[Orsi]

Terminal Services showed up as the best solution. Nevertheless there is something curious about the fm license. You need to install on your machine a 5 user license number or more, because when you try to open more than one terminal server session fm tells you ... " max number of users already using.. " . One other important thing is to use the terminal server on a separate machine where the fmserver runs, I do not know why but it did a big performance difference (it went better with terminal servers host on a separate server)

[Anatoli]

TS must run on Win server. FM server runs great on W2k client. And yes, you need VLA FileMaker.

[Orsi]

Thank you very much for your help so far. But now that it is working perfectly some problems arise...

Since the terminal Server is a session on a remote machine how the remote user will get printouts ? Does TS allow you to run there (at the server) and print where you are connected?

[Anatoli]

Because TS and client are connected in single network, if you share the client printer, then TS can print to client printer. Does that make sense?

I didn't studied and manuals, that is what I was doing

[Orsi]

Anatoli, you were right about printing! Thanks.

Now that I have deployed the TS solution I found out something curious and I wanted to know if this is just the way it is, or If I am doing something wrong.

When you try to run TS on the same machine you are running FM Server the session is very very slow (FileMaker Speed). The machine where I experienced this slow performance was a W2K PIII 1.0GHZ with 1 GB RAM. When I used a second W2K Server PIII 750 256MB RAM to run FM Server (on the same LAN), the TS session with FM ran at full speed. So I understand that is not possible to run FM55 Server and TS running FM50 on the same machine! Is my assumption correct?

Thanks

[Anatoli]

FM server and client should NEVER run on the same machine. I guess they do fight over the 5003 port.

As I wrote and I am using -- put the FM server to machine with CLIENT WINDOWS 2000 machine and spend the money on Fast SCSI disk. That is the best config.

Have fun!

[Mark Appleby]

I find what is being said here as very interesting. I am about to invest in a new windows 2000 server edition to run Filemaker server. I thought that I had to have win 2000 server in order to be able to run terminal services. Are you saying that I can buy win2000 client machine and connect it to my w2k server and still run terminal services? If so Can I user a RAID device as well because if so I will definitely save a small fortune.

[Anatoli]

You need Windows Server for Terminal Services. And some kind of VLA FileMaker.

For FM server use standard W2000 client with 128-256MB of memory, P4 2GHz or better and fast SCSI drive or RAID.

Or FMS on Linux machine looks very fast.

FM doesn't have much common with OS settings. It has own transport and security.

[Mark Appleby]

Anatoli,

Thanks for getting back to me, We are ablut to make a bog investment in new hardware here. I was going to install a Windows 2000 server raid etc in order to run the general office applications and accounting software. I was also about to get a second windows 2000 server to run filemaker server. Based on the posts on this site I can not see any advantage running this in a win2k server machine if win2k client machine can be attatched to the server and be able to run terminal services can I also get RAID on a win 2000 client?

As for Linux I am impressed with the offering from New Millenium but there is no one near me that knows LINUX, and the server machinery does not fill me with confidence ATA drives etc. The package does look good in other respects though.

Please note that I have no experience of FM server yet so I want to make the transition as simple as possible

Mark

[Anatoli]

RE: machine if win2k client machine can be attatched to the server and be able to run terminal services

That are 2 things.

MS server is the only thing, which can run Terminal Server.

W2k or NT4 clients will run nicely FM server. Just set priority for "background tasks".

[Mark Appleby]

Anatoli,

For instance, would I be able to run a Linux server, and attatch it to the win2k network, or a win2k client machine for that matter, and still be able to run terminal services from the win2k server machine?

Thanks,

Mark

[Anatoli]

Sure, you can feed FM clients from W, MacOS and X or Linux.

TS will run FM client in multiple sessions -- that is the reason for Volume License.

[Mark Appleby]

Thanks Anatoli!

[Anatoli]

Any time

[clueless]

Just joined the list for a quick answer. Has anyone experienced extreme slowness when using a VPN connection. This includes starting FM.

W2K VPN - W2K3VPN

thanks.

[Anatoli]

Not extreme slowness, but if data are with design, then yes, it is slow. If only data are exchanged, from 128kb speed is OK.

If pictures are on FM layouts and it is served over to clients = extremely slow.

In any case, Terminal Services are fast from 128kb up. I am working through 64k ISDN every day without problem.

[Ianz]

Hello fellow FM users,

I have just set up a VPN with FMP6 (not server) over a 256/64 ADSL - which I could not have done without this forum btw. I have been programming in FM (on Macs) for some years and using it on a LAN but VPN's are all new to me. My interest is in speed because in the setup I have it is unusable. If I can manage it I would rather not get into Teminal Services as it only runs on Windows. I understand FM7 is faster and I am in the process of getting a 1500/264 ADSL service but what else can I do to speed things up? Will FM server help? What about this idea of keeping data and design separate? Is that only possible when using TS?

Thanks for your help anyone,

Regards,

Ian

[Ianz]

Sorry I have another question I should have asked before. As I said I would rather not use TS (btw how does it work?) and so the obvious question is does Mac OSX server do something similar?

Thanks again,

Ian

[Computer Geek]

Just some general food for thought. I had a solution in FM 6, server5.5. On the lan, it was great, but slow as molassas on the VPN. When we converted it to FMp 7, Server 7, the exact same program all of a sudden was fast on the very same VPN. Filemaker Server 7 must transmit the data much more efficently then 5.5.

[LiveOak]

Not so much transferring data more efficiently, as transferring less data due to many operations now being performed on the server side.

-bd

[Ianz]

Thanks for the info and encouragement re FM7 and server 7. Any ideas how much help server 7 is if there are only 1 or 2 guests? ie. will FM7 do the speeding up or do I need server as well.

Thanks also computer geek for your comments.

Ian

[Ianz]

Just an update on my situation for anyone that is interested. I upgraded my host ADSL to 1500/256 and now TB2 is very useable with FM6. Most screens load quickly enough in color not to interupt work flow or be a problem waiting for screens to appear. I would be happy doing remote work all day this way. However over VPN is still a problem. While noticeably quicker it is still too slow to do anything other than maybe make a couple of important updates to records, certainly not quick enough to do any meaningful work. It looks like FM7 and server would be needed for this. TB2 will do me for now until I have to connect 2 LANs rather than just access the 'host LAN' from a remote computer.

Regards and thanks for all your help everyone,

Ian