Best # of RAM for FMS 5.5 & Mac OSX.34 to optimize

[Dave Nathanson]

Hi, We've been running FileMaker Server version 3 for ages. Finally are able to migrate to current versions of FMS 5.5 & FMP6. As this has become the Single Most Important computer in the building, we got a Dual G5/2gig to be the FIleMaker 5.5 (v4) Server.

The transition is mostly very good. The G5 has 512MB RAM, and is running Mac OSX 10.3.4 Panther. All forms of OS file sharing are off. Everybody uses a single-script "launcher file to open the hosted db files properly. Network is 100Bt. Everybody uses Macs, All are iMac G3/233 or better, many are G4's. Most are running Mac OS 9.22.

I set the FMPS ram cache to 35MB (was 40). Total hosted files are 866MB all together. The "Rule of Thumb" for setting the ram cache says that 5% of total hosted file size is about right (=43.3mb). Another FMI statement is to try for 95% cache hits. I'm seeing 99% - 100%. Running the command line "top" shows that "top" is using 9% resources, and nothing else is using more than 1%. Actually they mostly say 0.00% CPU usage but that's hard to believe when I know that the server is being hit from 20 active users, and 40 users overall.

FileMaker Server is the only program running (except for Timbuktu). There are 40 network users connected, and it servers up 35 files. The largest file is 548MB. Some operations seem slower on this Dual 2 gig G5, than they were on the old G4/466 OS9.1 (256 mb ram). Some client screens redraw noticeably during a layout swap (happens due to printing from a more print-friendly layout and switching back to data entry layout). I have already read the FMI "Best Practices" paper, and done most of the recommended things.

Question: Would more RAM make it run FileMaker Server 5.5 faster? How much is best?

What else can I do to improve performance at either server or client?

Thanks!

Dave

MacMedix

[Kurt Knippel]

Filemaker Server is DISK based not RAM based and make little use of the processors. What you are seeing is that the added overhead of all that extra RAM and dual processors is actually slowing down your system.

What I would suggest is that you either upgrade to Filemaker v7, which can make use of actual server class hardware or go back to that G4/466 with the FMS v5.5 that you bought.

The best performance from Filemaker Server 5.5 will come from a fast disk, only an improper setup will make a difference.

[Dave Nathanson]

Hi, Thanks Cap'n. Although it came along with the site license for FMP 6; FMP7 is totally not an option at this time, as it requires OSX for all clients, and I've been really pushing just to move off of OS 7 & up to 9. Had to replace a lot of really old Macs to get this far!

What you say would explain what I see when I run "top" and almost nothing is registering more than 0.00% cpu usage. But I have to assume that a dual G5 just HAS to have higher performance than a G4/466!! Doesn't it? I'm sure that the HD must be faster, so at least that would make a difference.

Wouldn't the more than 512 MB ram at least help the OS X function more smoothly, and thus FMS also? But it's also true that I have the FMS 5.5 which I believe runs on either Mac os 9 or X. Whatever works best is what I want to do.

Dave

[Kurt Knippel]

One would "think" that a better machine would give better performance, but the simple fact is that FMS does not need or use any of that "better" stuff, so it is all overhead and actually saps the performance a bit.

Seriously I would go back to the G4/466 and get the fastest disk drive possible, or max out the RAM and run it in RAMDisk.

[stanley]

Dave:

I concur with Kurt; my clients all run FMServer5 on old beige G3 towers (233 MHz, OS8.6) with crazy fast SCSI arrays, and the one client who bought his own OSX G5 comes nowhere near the performance, even though his network is smaller, and traffic is less.

One thing to absolutely make sure of on that G5 is that you're not using a FireWire drive, as that's a snail. If you're stuck with the G5, try to track down the fastest internal drive system you can get.

-Stanley

[Dave Nathanson]

Wow! What a shocker!

Ok, I still have the G4/466 OS 9 server. I'll try moving the new software & db files over there & see what happens.

Hmm. I could put a scsi drive in there instead of running the FMP db's from the ata hd.

Thanks guys!

Dave

Mac Medix

[stanley]

Dave:

Glad we could be of help. It's not so much of a shocker when you consider that the primary function of FileMaker Server is handling network requests for drive access, and making sure that the users don't attempt to modify the same record concurrently. So really, FMS turns the server box into a very elaborate hard drive controller. When you look at it that way, you realize that RAM and CPU speed don't matter nearly as much as network speed, drive speed and drive subsystem i/o speed.

-Stanley

[Kurt Knippel]

The G4 did not ship with a SCSI drive controller, so you would need to invest in a PCI SCSI card matched to the type of SCSI drive that you get. Goto Otherworld Computing at www.macsales.com for both the controller cards and drives.

[Dave Nathanson]

Hi Guys,

Last night I installed FMP Server 5.5 on the G4/466 (OS 9.1) and moved the db files over there. To insure smoothness, I took the precaution of moving the IP number too. It's definitely faster than the OSX Dual 2 Ghz G5 is for a FMP server.

I can put a regular old adaptec or nice atto scsi card in there & a good scsi drive to improve it even more. I have the cards, but both are the same vintage as the G4/466 is. Any recommendations for a good internal scsi drive?

I guess we'll just have to figure out what to do with a leftover Dual 2Ghz G5!!! -) Perhaps someone in the art dept knows what to do with those.

Thanks again.

Dave

[keysersoze]

This was a big help... I have a similar question!

We recently brought a web server in house to dish up our FileMaker database. We got a Dual 1.8 G5 with 2GB RAM... we installed FMP 6 Unlimited on it to serve our FileMaker files to the web. And it runs half as fast on the G5 as it did on the old Windows box it had been on! Ug!

Is this the same kind of issue as with FMP Server 5.5 that was written about above?

[stanley]

Keysersoze:

Welcome to the Forums. Without knowing more about the Windows box's drive setup, it's hard to say if it is indeed the same case as above. If you had a particularly good drive subsystem on the old box, then it may well be the same old story of drives being more important than CPU on the FM server side.

However FMU is actually a much more processor-intensive beast than FMS, so there may be a much more complicated answer to this. Perhaps someone more familiar with FMU on OSX will chip in.

-Stanley

[Dave Nathanson]

Thanks for the help guys, the G4/466 Mac running OS 9.1 is a lot better then the dual G5 on OSX. I understand, but am still amazed. I've started campaigning for a atto scsi card & a fast hd.

I have another follow up speed question, and if this is the wrong section to ask it in, please just let me know, & what section is better, & I'll repost it there instead.

Since the upgrade from FMP 3.05 & 4.1 to server 5.5 & FMP6... My users (44) are getting a lot of network squiggle lines. I'm presently trying to find out just when & what they were doing at the time, It's typically a 1-1.25 minute delay and they can't do anything about it once it starts. This is on FMP6, on Mac OS 9.1 & 9.2.2. Mostly lower end Mac G3's.

Theses are the same people and databases that didn't get the network squiggle arrow with FMP server 3.x & FMP 4.1. I'm trying to figure out what's wrong, and where to look. From the reports that I get, it seems almost intermittent, but still a major delay in a fast-paced work environment.

Seems to (sometimes) be related to a screen redraw, or hunting for files that are already open. I've looked at the relationships & scripts, and they all seem to be referring to the files correctly. Usually as "filename(*)" and occasionally as "filename(192.168.1.2)" which is the correct IP. I know that it's better to have the (*), but sometimes I have to change a script without shutting shown the server. I do note that during the forward migration, the FMP6 renamed several of the files, adding a ".fp5" where there was no extension before. I went through & updated all scripts to use the new file name, but maybe that has something to do with it?

I'm open for any suggestions, and pointers to FAQs I should be reading about this sort of issue.

Thanks!

Dave

[wwyngaard]

Check and or redo your relationships between files. When we went through those versions of upgrades we redid all relationships to make sure they knew where all the files were.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

You need to clean up your file references. Get MetaData Magic from New Millennium [http://www.newmillennium.com] to do this.

Steven