SyncDek solution

[Arin]

Is anyone currently using a "SyncDek" based sync solution to replicate solutions between multiple FileMaker servers? If so what version of FMP are you using it with, and how reliable is it?

The SYncDek product can be found here: http://www.syncdek.com/

Thanks - Arin

[Jalz]

Hi Arin,

I've used SyncDeK 6 once before in a solution developed in FileMaker Pro 6. The data replication technology is quite reliable, it really does depend on your primary keys and conflict resolution. They have quite alot of articles on configuration.

The replication technology is a good alternative to on-line databases, and I've quoted for a system for a book publishers in the UK, where authors travel to third world countries and enter in their results and Sync at the end of the day using a normal phone line. (This is a FileMaker 8 solution, and boy is it alot easier to Sync enable with the new SyncDeK utility file)

The only drawback is the price of the software, I find it a little tad expensive, especially when data replication is built into other databases as standard!

They do offer a 30 day trial period, go to www.syncdek.com/demo6 and download the SyncDeK developer, that should get you started.

[Arin]

We're currently using FileMaker 5/6 solution - running FMS 5.5 and v6 Clients on both OS X and Win XP.

On your FM 6 solution how frequently did you Sync?

We've got just under 100 files that total about 800MB and around 120 users, I was hoping to Sync every 2 mins or so - with the intent being in the future we could use the 2nd server station to balance load - and a couple of minute difference would be close enough to real-time for our workflow.

Is this quick of a Sync turnaround possible?

-A

[Jalz]

With an FM6 solution I dont think syncing at 2 minute intervals remote nodes is going to be feasible. When syncing takes place, it basically locks you out of FileMaker so you can't do anything.

The way I've set things up are, the remote machines sync every time the user hit the sync button whether its at the start of day, in the middle or every 30 minutes. At the server end I have a machine thats set to sync every 5 minutes.(this is a robot machine which no-one uses.)

Depending on incoming/outgoing data and the number of fields you have in that file it takes roughly 30 secs per file on average to receive the shuttle as well as send one. If you have 100 files a sync session will probably last over 20 minutes.

The new SyncDeK server does support background processing, and you can leave that running all day running at 2 minute intervals doing its thing but it does require .fp7 files to implement.

[Arin]

My plan was to have a FM 6 Client station setup and connect to a server - with 2 servers total and then those two client machines connecting to the SyncDek server.

Other users would be connecting with seperate clients to the 1st of the two servers....

But it's sounding like it might be best to accelerate my migration to FM 8.

[Vaughan]

I believe that "virtual servers" can be created that span multiple computers. This would be a better way to do load balancing IMHO.

Change over to 8.x as soon as you can.

[Arin]

Vaughan can you explain?