IWP or PHP for my needs?

[TedM]

Hi,

I currently have a simple but large (3 million records and increasing by 100,000/month) flat file database currently being published using FMP 4 and CDML.

It's accessed by just one IP address and they use it to search for and download (via a link) about 200 scanned images each day. Records are located by searching on any of 4 fields, all of which are numeric. There is no record creation involved via the web.

There is no other access to this database.

This system has worked fine for the past 3-4 years.

I'm in the process of putting in place a backup server for my client and I would like to improve the performance of the searches as well as get rid of the 2 gig file size limit which I'm always up against.

I have a spare copy of FMP7 client and have started setting it up to serve the database over IWP.

I've been having a look at the alternatives and was wondering whether I should go for a PHP/FMP solution instead.

Would this be more robust/faster given the size of the database?

Please bear in mind that I have absolutely no experience in PHP and would be looking to use fxForge or CafePHP to help me out.

I should also point out that I need this database available 24x7. If FMP7 IWP is going to fall over then it's not for me.

Edited March 21, 2006 by Guest

[FMWebschool]

Hi :

PHP/FX.php will give you more speed and flexibility than IWP. If you migrate to 7 or 8, you will need to use FileMaker Server Advanced 7/8 to serve your pages, or use a FileMaker Hosting Provider.

The FileMaker web community continues to grow and embrace the power of FX.php/PHP.

If you have questions about integration of FileMaker and PHP, there is a great PHP forum on this site as well as a FileMaker "web only" forum at: FileMaker Web Forum

In Kindness

Stephen K Knight