Connections, closures and corruptions

[jodibee]

Hi,

I have an ongoing issue that I would like some advice upon. Firstly, I have nothing to do with the network administration that we run our Filemaker server on so have limited knowledge about our network. I think we are running FMP server 5.5 on a Win2k server, though is not exactly optimal due to its age and size. My databases are setup to run via TCP/IP in a multi-user hidden environment. When I am conducting design changes while at work, ie. I am on a LAN though the server is on a different network thus still accessed via TCP/IP, everything runs well. When I implement design changes from hom, ADSL type dial-up, by changes I mean creating new calculated fields for example, the connection with the host is lost nearly every single time...even though my internet connection is still active and working. This results in the file closing improperly and then cannot be accessed until my network administrators can make the time to go to the server and recover the affected file (this is a bonafide pain in the backside as we are grossly under-resourced and my network admin are very grouchy).

What is likely to be the culprit? The server, the software, the network, my internet connection, me? I am going to be working almost exclusively in this mode for the next year and simply cannot afford the down time or stress levels that this repeated problem induces.

Any thoughts or suggestions about how to fix this problem would be greatly appreciated.

:)

[stanley]

Considering that it works fine when you are on the LAN on a different network, you should be able to eliminate the server, software and network from the problem. Considering that you are able to work in that situation, then you're likely not the culprit either. I would imagine it is your ADSL connection dropping the ball. If you're doing a lot of work that doesn't involve continuous communication with the server, i.e., writing a long script, endless tinkering with an existing layout, etc., it is possible for your ADSL connection to time out, and you'll ungracefully close the file. Check your ADSL settings and see if there is a time-out clock. If so, bump it up to something like an hour (or set it to no time-out.)

However, it occurs to me that FileMaker Server ought to be able to handle this kind of abrupt communication loss. Are you connecting directly to the files somehow, opening them without dealing with FM Server? If so, that's a no-no in the first place.

HTH

-Stanley