slow FM file open & close

[GWood fm]

We are using v6 under Windows 2000 terminal services, files hosted under FMServer on a dedicated machine.

Problem: if I log into the terminal server with admin rights, FileMaker file opening and closing takes very long, lots of squiggly line and hourglass. One example of an application using 7 related files takes almost 30 seconds to open. If I log on using more typical user rights then opening the same app takes 3 seconds. Same results across all of my apps. FileMaker priveleges have no impact.

Anyone know what's up with this?

[Wim Decorte]

Do some normal maintenance on the admin rights (clean out temp files mostly). FM6 is very sensitive to the # of temp files.

[GWood fm]

Thanks for your response. I have deleted all temp folders and files in documents and settings for both admin and my own profile in the terminal server. No change in FileMaker behaviour as a result.

Any other maintenance or ideas?

Thanks

[xochi]

Perhaps you have some old file references in the FM database that refer to network paths or network shares, and these are present (or not) when you log into the Admin account, causing FM to spend extra time scanning the network?

[xochi]

Also -- are you sure it's FM that is taking so long? Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up your process manager, sort by CPU usage, and watch to see if FM is really using the CPU or perhaps some other tasks are (such as antivirus scanners, etc)?

[GWood fm]

The terminal server CPU (2 x 2.8 GHz Xeon) useage sits at ~25% when files are opening or closing. No sign of other useage nearby.

The old file reference thing may be worth checking further. Will use of the 'save relative path' check box in set-up of relationships make file/network hunting faster or slower? FM runs on terminal server, files live on a fileserver and are hosted on dedicated server

[Wim Decorte]

FM runs on terminal server, files live on a fileserver and are hosted on dedicated server

"fileserver" implies that they are shared through the OS. That's bad news. Move the files to the FMS machine and disable OS sharing. Performance will be better throughout and your files will be a whole lot safer.

[xochi]

The old file reference thing may be worth checking further.

Under FM8, you can actually see & edit the file references. Under FM6, they are basically hidden and you have to hunt for them inside relationships. This, and about a million other reasons, make upgrading to FM8 quickly worth your time/money.

[GWood fm]

Yes, I guess in the grand scheme of things getting our butts into FM8 would help with this and a bunch of other issues. I will just need to convince the powers that be that we need the time, $$ and resources to make it happen. I have a single copy of FM8 Designer and very much like what I have seen so far.

Thanks for your help guys. I have been using FileMaker for 15 years now but have never used this forum before. I'll be back.