wan/vpn bandwidth

[gregmichalec]

Hi -

I'm trying to implement a filemaker setup which shares data between two offices connected via a WAN VPN. In initial testing, it's become obvious that we need to upgrade the bandwidth of one of the offices. Currently, one office has a 768/768 connection, while the other is 384/384. However, I haven't been able to find any specs on what is actually required to do this. I have seen posts that show that other people have been able to successfully share a database over a WAN, but haven't found any details. SO, my question is:

1) What is the minimum amount of upload and download bandwidth needed to share a Filemaker database (using the FM client, not the web client)

2) What is the maximum amount of latency tolerable for this sort of connection?

thanks in advance

--greg

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Hard questions to answer because the architecture of the files also plays a major role in this.

First, why are you using a VPN? What made you decide not to use the public Internet? You can encrypt the data in transist with minimal performance hits.

Steven

[gregmichalec]

Thanks for the quick response.

I'm using the VPN mostly because it was already there, and it's easier to just use it than to try and set up route and firewall configs, especially since the other office is on the other side of the country. Plus, I wouldn't want to send this data out into the internet unencrypted.

Does the overhead of encrypting/decrypting the data really have the much of an impact?

Unless you're asking why I'm not using the web client - and the answer is because of the reduced usability and functionality. If I *have* to go with the web client, I can, but I'd rather try to get the full-fledged FM clients working.

As far as architecture of the files, i'm using 1 file containing 9 tables. I've read that it may help to split out the layouts from the data tables, but that seems like it may be a headache.

Thanks - please let me know if there are any further details I can provide.

--greg

[IdealData]

You can still make a VPN connection through a conventional ADSL or Cable connection. The current SDSL connections are likely to be costing quite a lot more than equivalent speed ratings for ADSL.

I get 8000/800 here and I have done some tests via VPN/WAN - quite acceptable and a massive improvement over FMP 5/6.

How much do you need? As much as you can get!

I'll bet that a 2000/2000 SDSL would be handsome.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I have not found in numerous deployments that encrypting the data in transist has any noticeable effect on "speed" or robustness. Just enable the option in the security panel of the Server SAT Tool and restart the service.

Steven