Filemaker and page files and VM

[Jim Strickland]

We are currently running FM Server 8 on a Windows 2003 server. Windows 2003 (32bit) has a limit of 2GB for page file size. From what I can tell, FM Server is still 32 bit, so even if I upgraded to a 64bit server, I would still be looking at the 2GB page file limit. Unfortunately, our install of FM server is getting pretty close to maxing out the page file.

Is the MacOS version of FM Server also a 32 bit program, or would it be able to fully utilize the MacOS 64 bit capabilities? Are there limits to virtual memory on an XServe vs a Windows 2003 Server? I would appreciate any advice I can get.

[aholtzapfel]

Years ago, VM was NOT a good practice on FM Servers. Is this still the case? I have reread the white papers for server 8 and did not find any info on this. Is it safe to use? Or should it be disabled on the server, and reley on Physical Ram only? (I have had some problems with my server "Freezing" and have been re-examining everything I thought I knew. This was one of the things I came across that I am now unsure of.)

[Jim Strickland]

Years ago, VM was NOT a good practice on FM Servers. Is this still the case? I have reread the white papers for server 8 and did not find any info on this. Is it safe to use? Or should it be disabled on the server, and reley on Physical Ram only? (I have had some problems with my server "Freezing" and have been re-examining everything I thought I knew. This was one of the things I came across that I am now unsure of.)

I've never dealt with OSX Server. Can you turn off virtual memory? I've never found a way in regular OSX.

Anyway, as long as FileMaker plays nicely with it, I would think VM would be a plus.

[aholtzapfel]

I'm using a Windows 2003 server and VM is currently on. (Yes you can disable it.) Years ago (version 3? running on a mac server), the swaping of the VM and Physical could cause problems, but I have not had any problems with my windows server running it in the last 4 years. (Of course it has now crashed 4 times in as many days. Not sure if VM had anything to do with it. More users than ever, VPN has become unstable, New Client Versions 8.5 being implemented, so many variables, so little time.)

[Jim Strickland]

I thought you were referring to virtual memory in MacOS. I know you can turn it off in Windows 2003.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

It's 32 bit, both platforms. It may run on 64 bit, but it's neither certified nor supported.

Regarding VM, the recommendation remains, I believe, to use physical RAM. If you have 4 GB installed, then up to 800MB may be reserved for cache for FIleMaker Server. This is true of Server 8 and Server 9.

Steven