Two Servers

[Stuart Taylor]

I have a potential issue and would like some advice.

I am installing two duplicate solutions on one network.

There are two servers running FileMaker Server 5.5.

Currently both server machines (mac mini's) are on the same ip range.

I have experienced issues where if a user opens the solution over the network and has a copy on the local machine. FileMaker gets confused and opens some files on the server and the rest on the local machine.

My fear is that if i have two identical solutions on two seperate machines on the same network a user may begin opening files on one server and then switch to the other.

can anyone advise me if this is a potential issue.

best

Stuart

ps. I am working on an 8 version that will solve this but have to deal with this in the mean time.

[Ender]

My fear is that if i have two identical solutions on two seperate machines on the same network a user may begin opening files on one server and then switch to the other.

This is a very likely possiblity.

The trouble is that the file references (which tell the database where to look for a related file) are internally added each time you add relationships, scripts, and value lists, and these file references cannot be manually changed with the FM5.5 application.

You could get New Mlllennium's MetadataMagic, which has a file reference fixer for FM6 and lower to solve the problem once, but in the course of editing the solution, you would likely get the file references confused again. Then again, there could still be issues if the user navigates from one server to another.

A better solution is to name the files on one server differently than on the other. This would require the Developer version to change the file names and keep all references linked correctly.

Or perhaps it makes more sense to just combine the files, marking each record as belonging to one group or the other. This would require lots of reworking and some security improvements, but it might be nice in the long run. If a module is changed or added, you only have to do it once, rather than twice.

Edited October 7, 2006 by Guest

[Stuart Taylor]

Hi Ender,

Thanks for the reply.

I can not invest the time in your suggested proposals as i am focused on version 8 which is the true solution to the problem. This is a bit of a temporary fix.

Other than creating 2 seperate networks ... i was thinking creating 2 different ip ranges may be a way to do it ... they only need to share the internet connection and im sure we could make it work.

Will FileMaker Server still find the other server or could i stop this from happening?

[Ender]

I'd think that would work okay while the user is on one solution, but if they try opening both, the databases could have trouble. I haven't tried it, that's just based on my experience with using local and network files. You need to close out of one completely before going into the other.

[Stuart Taylor]

this is a wierd situation...

2 companies sharing one office and an internet connection.

so hopefully it will work out ok.

thanks so much for your input.

best.

Stuart