VPN connection fast enough for FMP7 clients?

[JamesHunt]

I've read the numerous threads here regarding VPN feasability and alternatives such as terminal services, but I would like to follow up with a discussion related to my specific situation.

2 offices remotely connected through a VPN hardware solution. Both are using ADSL, and speed is currently 1500/256, but soon to upgraded to 6000/600.

FMP Server 7 hosted on OSX, clients running FMP7 on WinXP and 2K. There are about 8 clients on the LAN side of the server and 8 clients on the remote VPN side.

How will the performance be for the VPN users on DSL of this speed using the standard FMP "Open Remote" connection? Not all 8 VPN clients will access at the same time, probably 2 or 3 at most.

I understand terminal services would be much faster, but it requires another hardware investment since it will not run on the same server. Is this going to be usable, or should I just resign myself to requesting another server box?

Thanks for any advice!

[transpower]

Terminal Server does not require another hardware investment. You can run Terminal Services on the same computer as your Windows Server 2003 Standard (don't even consider Small Business Server--it's worthless). You will have to run FileMaker Server on a different computer.

[JamesHunt]

I don't have a Win 2k3 server box. The FMP Server 7 is running Mac OSX. The clients are running Win XP Pro (not server) and Win 2k SP4 (not server).

Since the VPN will create a tunnel at the speed of each location's upload speed, the tunnel will be 600kbps. Do you think this is fast enough to be useable on a daily basis?

[Ender]

Even for a standard filemaker connection, 600K should be fast enough for most things. Just avoid large graphics and avoid sorting on unstored calcs.