VPN

[kseidule]

Dont know if this is the right place, but it seemed to do with Network stuff so correct me if I need to post somewhere else.

I have NEVER used FMP over a network, but the solution I am creating is going to be used on a network. They plan to place both FMP and the solution on a windows VPN and allow the user to log on and acccess the soluton from there. I can access it via my Mac using MS Remote Desktop Connection and run the Windows FMP and the solution no problem.

My question is: Will this work? If multiple users run this solution will it work?

Anyway, I thought I would ask the experts out there since networking-wise I am a newborn.

Thanks in advance for you help.

Kevin

[transpower]

I prefer Windows Terminal Server (or Citrix for Mac) Put one copy of FileMaker Pro on that. Put FileMaker Server on a separate computer. All clients can then connect locally or remotely through Windows Terminal Server (or Citrix).

[Ender]

What's the speed of your VPN connections?

For a plain old remote connection (without the terminal services,) even with a moderate speed connection (512K), your WAN users should be OK for simple things. Though reports with related sort criteria might be too slow to run.

If you have not deployed a solution in a multi-user environment before, there are other things you will need to consider and address. Especially make sure you deal with record locking issues.

[kseidule]

Thanks all for your responses.

Ender...what would be the best place to read/study up on record locking issues?

Again, thanks for all your help (everyone).

Kevin

[Ender]

I'm sure there are other sources, but the Record Ownership section of the FM7 Migration Foundations and Methodologies tech brief has details about how record locking works in FM7. It does not go into much detail about how you as the developer should set up your scripting to deal with locked records in an elegant way.

Different developers probably use slightly different methods, but the idea is, whenever your user is presented with an Edit screen where another user could be editing the record, you want to test with a script (Error Capture On), to see if the record is locked. If it is, then let the user know.

One new feature of FM7 is the ability to let the user send a message to the other user who has locked the record, requesting for them to get out of it. This may be sufficient.

But let's look at a less obvious, example: Suppose you have an Employee table, with HR info, which also is used for Employees as a starting point to relate to Projects that the employee has been assigned. The employee logs in, pulls up their record, and can edit the status of their projects through a portal. This works fine in a stand alone system, but when it is used in a multi-user environment, you could have issues where HR is editing an employee's record when an employee tries to edit their projects through the project portal. You probably would not want users to request for HR to get out of their record, and it might not be good if employees knew when HR was editing thier record. This situation can be avoided by the use of globals to act as parent keys for the projects relationship that the users access.

[Wim Decorte]

Not sure why you say 'citrix for Mac'. There is a Terminal Services client for the Mac (in fact there are several, but the Microsoft one is free).

Citrix is an add-on to TS (better printing, less bandwidth required, better security, load balancing, ...) but is also a whole lot more expensive.

From my experience, most smaller deployments don't need Citrix at all. If they believe Citrix is the only option they often balk at the price and turn away from the remote computing option altogether.

[kseidule]

Ender...wow. That was a great description of record locking. I get the drift and obviously need to understand/test to make sure all is OK.

Now, let's say person A is editing the NAME field of a record and person B is editing the NAME field of the same record. Is it the last person who edits the record (which gets committed) wins? Or does the world explode?

Thanks again for all your help. I am going to go dilligently read the tech brief of record locking and how it works with your link above.

As far as the terminal services thread, I downloaded "Remote Desktop Connection" for free, it works for my purposes as far as testing the windows side. I am not smart enough at this yet to care about features and what not. Note the "beginner" tag next to my name. :-)

p.s. This forum is awesome. I've posted a few questions on here and I am amazed at the wealth of knowledge and the willingess of others to help others. I only hope I get savvy enough to be able to pass it on and help others too. For example, did you all know that double-clicking on the FMP app runs it? <that was a joke>.

Many Regards,

Kevin

[QuinTech]

Double-left-click or double-right-click?

[Ender]

Re: record locking: The first person to begin editing the field locks the record out from other users. Note that in FM7, just clicking into a field doesn't lock it. Typing or deleting in field, or equivelant script steps will lock it.