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Posted

Hi, I'm completely new to OS X server and Filemaker Server 5.5 v4/ FM6.

I've never used an OS server in my life nor managed a database, but I'm familiar with macs and have a basic understanding of how to use OSX. I'm a physical therapist and I'm in the early stages of planning my own private practice. I decided that macs were the only way to go in terms of stability and user friendliness and I looked for the best software packages available to suit my needs. I found a patient scheduling, billing, and point of sale program from a company that built the database file with FM6. I also plan to use the network version of Accountedge as my accounting package.

The hardware layout that I have built so far includes the following:

Server: Dual G4 1.25 ghz that will be running OSX server and host the filemaker database both off a firewire 800 mirror raid enclosure by Miglia as well as an onboard firewire 800 PCI card. ( I wanted the redundancy for data security as well as for easy backups). The G4 will have 2 gb of memory installed.

Clients: G4 800mhz upgraded Powermac 7300's (with new ide HD controllers, graphics cards, ata 100 harddrives installed and gigabit ethernet installed) They are all running Jaguar 10.2.8 and they have been running very stable for the last 8 months. They also have barcode readers, a cash drawer and a receipt printer available.

Network: Gigabit Ethernet switch and Cat 6 cables, netgear wireless router, airport extreme cards.

Operating Systems/software: OS X server 10.2.8(server), OS X 10.2.8(clients), Filemaker Server 5.5v4 and FilemakerPro 6 on each client.

Yesterday was the first day I have ever tried to use OSX server to "serve" my client computers. I bought the OSX server software a year ago and never opened the package until yesterday to finally give it a try. Initially, I was thinking about aborting the whole idea and just going with Panther client version ( that administrator manual was scary and confusing) but I read the quickstart manual that came with the server software and was able to set up a network (that actually worked---hooray!) between the server and clients.

But now there are many questions left unanswered and I fear that they are technically out of my grasp to figure out. What I want my network to perform is simple: I want my filemaker database served off the server with fmserver 5.5, I want to have some central control of account privileges, e-mail, and printing capabilities with my clients through OSX server. I would like to have 2 of my clients to be wireless as I move from examining room to examining room. This is not a mixed PC/Mac environment, I don't plan to do any quicktime streaming, ftp, web page hosting etc... just the basics.

My questions are as follows:

1) Am I missing anything in my hardware set-up and will I be okay booting OSX server and Filemaker server off a firewire 800(raid) drive?

2) Where do I place Filemaker server 5.5 on the server. Is it installed the same way I install it on the client version of the operating system? Do I have to make it a "shared" application from within OS X server or will FM server have to be configured separately on top of the OS X server software. In other words how do I install FM server 5.5 on a server running OS X server and configure it?

3) My initial attempts with filemaker server over wireless proved disastrous. It was incredibly slow that I switched over to gigabit ethernet. I still want to have 2 of my clients wirelessly hooked up to my network but somehow I felt my set-up is wrong. Do I need a program like Timbuktu, why did the filemaker program slow to a crawl?

4) What are the advantages of running filemaker server on the OSX server software versus the client software. Is this recommended or should I place filemaker server on a separate hardware server altogether?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Posted

Since this section seems a little quiet, I did a little more reading of other threads.

It seems to me a better solution for me would indeed be to have a separate computer running OS X 10.2.8 (client version) with Filemaker Server hosting my FM database (NEVER NEVER shared apparently from what I read), then have a computer dedicated towards OS X server running my e-mail and directory services.

So my set-up now would be the G4 dual 1.25 ghz hosting Filemaker Server 5.5 v4 and MYOB Accountedge Network 2004 (with neither running at the same time as the other) booted off a firewire 800 mirror raid solution by Miglia. ( I like the fact that this raid solution allows for offsite backups simply by inserting a third drive-- in essence I think the best solution is to have 4 drives; 3 drives on site- two mirrored and the remaining one the back-up which is exchanged daily with the one off-site. The nice thing about this set-up is that the entire opertating system along with my filemaker and accountedge files are backed up/ synchronized daily and in the case of a disastrous hardware failure I can simply boot up my firewire solution off any computer to get my network up again. I will be using Hitachi GXP180 drives which apparently are some of the fastest for firewire enclosures. I will also be making daily CD-R backups of my FM and accountedge files for archive-- you never know. )

As a sidenote: I know there are internal IDE raid solutions (Acard for one) but I've had disk corruption issues/ reliability issues with some Acard controllers in the past with certain makes of harddrives and I need a high level of reliability in my solution. Going with an external firewire 800 raid solution seems to make the most sense. Most tests show firewire 800 to be just as fast as an internal ide drive (slower than scsi however- but speed is not the main issue here.) Also having an external drive solution takes an additional load off the server as well as keeps heat issues to a minimum. Internal mirror raid solutions for the MACINTOSH currently have no way via software or hardware to monitor the status of the drives which in my opinion makes the mirror raid useless. With an external raid solution you have LED monitoring as well as an additional backup solution as well as hotswapping and external boot capability. With the appropriate number of drives and redundant hardware ( ie a standby firewire enclosure and powersupply in addition to a standby server) I think its a foolproof solution.

I am still wondering if anyone has any tips on how to run FM over wireless for 2 of my clients. I have a feeling this will slow my system to a crawl which in that case I'd have to plan for another solution.

I imagine having up to 10 users on my system at a time.

Thanks for any input.

Posted

Check this out:

http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/fms_best_practices.pdf

For backups, I have FM Server Schedule backup 3 times a day to a second internal drive, then at night, Retrospect running on another machine backs up the Backup drive.

Running over 11Mb wireless certainly won't be as fast as Gigabit Ethernet. You may have to optimize your layouts, finds, and sorts a bit to make them snappier over a slow network. If you can get Airport Extreme speeds (54Mb) on your wireless workstations, this should be fast enough for your users (if needed, extend the range with another base station.)

Posted

Thanks Ender. That best practices paper was so helpful. It makes me want to rethink whether or not I should go with an external scsi solution or with the firewire raid solution. Filemaker suggests that it would be too easy for someone to accidentally unplug a firewire drive. IMO it would be just as easy for someone to spill a cup of coffee on that same server or accidentally unplug the computer from the electrical outlet. I think if you're careful these types of mishaps shouldn't happen at all. The server should be locked away with all cords neatly tied down and accidental plug pulling should be pretty much eliminated.

I love the idea of a scsi raid 5 solution, but it seems out of budget for me. All I see are these enterprise class hardware subsystems that cost as much or if not more than the server itself. Why wouldn't a well designed/built firewire raid 1 solution like the Vanguard III solution by Firewire Direct or the Mediabank system by Miglia be an effective alternative? And they seem to be the right price range for a small business owner with less than 10 users. The hot swappability also makes for an effective backup solution in my opinion. ( Its also worthy to note that this best practices paper was written before the introduction of these firewire raid solutions so maybe now they might consider otherwise) In either case it is obvious that a scsi solution is the best, but will be quite expensive.

The paper also answered my question concerning running Filemaker Server on top of OSX Server. They make the point that the FM server should be hosted from a dedicated computer in a best practice situation. That made sense to me after reading through a bunch of these threads. The paper also explained the difference between file sharing and hosting a service-- a concept I initially had a hard time understanding having grown up in a MAC OS world. Essentially any form of filesharing, e-mail, ftp services from the FM server will slow down the overall network and possibly make it less stable and introduce possible sources of corruption. So, my guess is its best to run OSX server on a computer separate from the FM server box ( which might as well run the client version of the operating system).

They should have made it a point that when running scheduled back-ups on live FM files you should make sure you first updated filemaker server 5.5 to at least version 4 to avoid the corrupted files fiasco.

Looks like I have a lot more planning to do ahead. I'm going to have to make a decision between the scsi raid or firewire raid, somehow I feel I'm going to end up with both. Right now I'm testing filemaker server off a non-raid firewire enclosure booted on OS X server and I am not having any problems so far. But some have reported that you are not able to do scheduled backups to files located on raid volumes or that's what I've read. Maybe they meant networked raid volumes and not local raid volumes-- don't know for sure.

Anyway, you're input Elder was extremely helpful-- much thanks! I wish the company that licensed FM server to me would have also included the instruction manual, I'm still searching for the manual.

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