FMP Unlimited Hangs Randomly

[Dennis Bishop]

Hi!

I have FMP Unlimited 6.0v4 running Web Companion 6.0v3 on a Mac XServe 2x1.33 with 2GB RAM/4x180GB drives (with OSX Server 10.3.3). There are eight databases running off an iMac (512MB/20GB) with FMP Server 5.5v4.

The two major databases have 400,000 and 135,000 records each and have three related fields. I'm running FMP Connector with Apache on the XServe so most of the web load has been taken off of the Web Companion.

The problem is that I get (seemingly) random "beach ball of death" on FMP Unlimited. The database system works fine for hours but then hangs and I have to kill FMP Unlimited and then relaunch it. None of the system or application logs indicate that anything is wrong.

OSX Server: I burned the XServe to the ground and reinstalled the OS from scratch. I also disabled crashreporterd, have optimized vnodes and am running Panther Cache Cleaner every 24 hours.

Hardware: I've been through the wringer with Apple Premium Support and have determined that the XServe is fine. The XServe ran on the bench for 36 hours without a problem. To make sure, I've swapped out RAM and run all the diagnostics I could get my hands on and the hardware seems fine.

FMP Unlimited: I worked with the very helpful tech support at Filemaker and have rebuilt the databases from scratch including creating new structures, reinstalling FMP Unlimited, and paring down the database to about 20% of the actual records. The database ran fine for a couple months with 20% of the records but once I imported all the records back in (from tab-delimited files) FMP Unlimited started to hang again.

As you might imagine, I'm about at the end of my rope and my client is getting impatient. Any help anyone can offer is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Dennis

[Vaughan]

My only suggestion is this: I discovered that CDML portals can really bog the system down, especially if there are more than a few dozen related records.

Do any of your pages use a portal to list related records?

[Dennis Bishop]

Hi Vaughan,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I do rely on displaying related records in portals in my CDML although I estimate that my portals only show a maximum of six records. Do you have any suggestions for alternatives to portals in CDML?

Best,

Dennis

[Vaughan]

Instead of portals (which shoe related records) show people lists of records instead. This may need rethinking the information low a bit and performing a find in the related database instead of going to a particular record with a portal on it. But it's way faster.

[Steve T.]

Hi, Dennis! Well, if it's any consolation to you, you're not alone. See this thread if you'd like to hear what some other folks have been trying and experiencing.

I am somewhat disappointed to hear that you have this problem with FMP-U using Apache and Web Server Connector. I was hoping to switch to something like that for one of our systems because of its inconsistancy. Hmm... I wonder if FX on Unlimited will have the same problem using php/apache... guess I'll find out soon enough.

--ST