Do I need server advanced ?

[djlane]

I have an application that will be shared by probably only three users, and maybe one or max two users using web hosting.

The same setup will be used in 5 countries.

Will there be a noticeable performance difference between using 8.5 Pro vs 8.5 Server advanced for the file sharing & Web hosting ?

Does Server advanced really only run on Windows server or Win2k server?

5 copies of Server advanced and 5 copies of Windows server is big $$..

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Either version of FileMaker Server is much more robust that any version of the client software.

FileMaker Server Advanced is best run on either Windows Server 2003 or Macintosh OS X Server.

I'd recommend you get some professional assistance from a developer with expertise in FileMaker Server before you head out on this venture.

Steven

[JesseSFR]

What kind of web hosting are you talking about? IWP?

Geoff

[Reed]

since v9 just came out today, you will be able to do web publishing with regular filemaker server w/o needing the advanced version. You only need FMSA if you need IWP and/or ODBC/JDBC sharing.

With a small number of clients you may not need server as long as you're willing to take care of backups and management manually. I ran a 5-client setup for a couple of years with FMP as the host before moving to server without any problems.

Also, I believe FMP 9 has upped the number of peer to peer clients from 5-9 simultaneous.

If you need to use server for a small setup, you can avoid having to by 2003 server if you use a mac for your host. FM Server is certified to run on plain OS X (not server) for less than 50 clients.

[djlane]

SixFriedRice asked what kind of web hosting, Reed says server does web publishing but I need server advanced for Internet Web publishing.

So now I'm confused. Whats the difference between Web Hosting and IWP ?

I just need a couple of overseas users to be able to browse the database.

[Reed]

Server 9 will do custom web publishing (CWP). Meaning that custom web pages can be built using filemaker data accessed through one of a few different methods. Lasso, XML, XSLT, PHP, and now apparently Ruby.

there is a php site assistant that will get you started making a php site based on your filemaker data, but it may require modifications depending on your needs.

Instant web publishing (IWP), on the other hand, is a way to take the filemaker layouts and scripts that you've already created for use with filemaker clients and publish them directly to the web without any additional coding (but with some limitations as far as layout rendering in a browser and execution of certain script steps. Much easier than php etc., but less flexible.

You can do IWP with plain old filemaker and 5 simultaneous web users can connect to the database. A database shared with filemaker server cannot be shared via IWP, only CWP. Server advanced is necessary to gain IWP access from a server hosted database. (100 concurrent connections are possible) Server advanced also allows the filemaker database to act as an ODBC or JDBC data source (for up to 50 simultaneous connections) rather than just connecting to other data sources.

Also, I just checked on filemaker.com and apparently they are going to support windows XP as an OS running server and server advanced as of version 9.

Hope this answers some of your questions.

[djlane]

Thanks Reed. OK, now I have to start learning a bit more about PHP etc.

[JesseSFR]

Reed hit the nail on the head. The reason why I asked about IWP was because of his explaination. I just will clarify just a wee bit. Ruby (thru rfm) and PHP actually just use the XML interface that Filemaker Server 9 happens to support... so it's nothing overly special. PHP has it's own built in publishing helper in 9 which makes it a little easier to launch a custom site. These two options are just two of the more common scripting languages that are out there.

In general, if you are going to learn a new language I would suggest ruby. It is a much cleaner and quite frankly easier language to learn but is a lot more powerful. I would check out ruby's website and I am sure you will end up agreeing.

[djlane]

If FMSA9 works on XP, I might just go that route. I only need simple browsing access via the web, so I don't want to have to start creating websites with Dreamweaver or PHP or Ruby if I can avoid it !

[JesseSFR]

Yea XP and IWP using Filemaker 9 Advanced can definitely fulfill your needs. It's nice not having to foot the bill for that $500 Windows Server software that's for sure. It also beats all the extra time you would need to spend to learn an entirely new language.

[Reed]

I just wish some Perl genius would make a module like fx.php or rfm that deals with filemaker's xml. I like using Perl so much for generic text processing and bioinformatics that I'd like to keep using it for filemaker as well rather than learning another language.

[Genx]

It is a much cleaner and quite frankly easier language to learn but is a lot more powerful.

Really, Ruby? Based on these stats, unless you want to be a niche developer, It's probably better to go with something more mainstream like PHP or Perl: http://www.dedasys.com/articles/language_popularity.html.

PHP and Perl have a much larger use beyond FileMaker, they both have HUGE open source communities so you can find scripts and classes to do pretty much absolutely anything -- and all free .

And at least with PHP i can say the language is fairly straight forward and extremely quick to pick up once you get past the first few weeks.

Anyway, I suppose it always comes down to preference, but the more mainstream the technology you use, the more likely your skills will come in useful in general - I mean even these forums are run by php, so is every other dynamic site you come across.