March 27, 200619 yr Hi geeks, I plan to network two remote (not in the same office) iMacs using FileMaker 6. How to make it successfully? Please advise.
May 1, 200619 yr Hi, um... Bikeman! How to do it depends on several factors, but you can probably get away with just deciding which one of your 2 iMacs will be the "host" and which will be the "client"... if 1 has a static IP address, that's probably the better choice. In such a situation, just open your db in FileMaker and select the option to share it. The client computer should then be able to launch its own copy of FM, choose FILE > OPEN > HOSTS and type in the IP address (or domain name) of the host machine. If all goes well, you will be presented with a list of db's that are shared and available on the host. If you do not have a static IP address for the host, you can use the dynamic IP it has at the moment. If you are using a router that re-assigns local IP addresses, you'll probably have to use your router's PORT FORWARDING option (if it has it) to forward :5003 accordingly. As you see, a lot depends on your situation and network but I think most options are described somewhere in the posts. Good luck! --ST
May 1, 200619 yr The performance of a remote FileMaker 6 peer-to-peer setup is not likely to be tolerable for everyday use.
May 1, 200619 yr I'd seriously consider upgrading to FM 8. 1. FM6 has a terribly weak password security arrangement, so if you just publish your database on a public IP address, you are asking for trouble. 2. WAN performance is much improved in 8 vs. 6. 3. If the upgrade to 8 is too much trouble, then I'd suggest some serious firewalling (e.g. let only one host in via it's IP address) or else set up a VPN (though VPN will decrease your performance a little).
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