Will 'throwing hardware' at this problem 'fix' it?

[Linux on Unix Action Hero]

I'm currently in a situation where I've, basically, just jumped in head-first into the world of FileMaker and Macs with a new position (as of Monday). I'm an experienced Windows and Linux administrator, but I'm fairly unfamiliar with both the PPC arch and OS X.

I mention PPC because I've currently got a 1.25GHz G4 Powermac with 1.5G RAM running FileMaker Server 9. There's an average of 12 connected users at any one time, and 16 user max, though this is likely to change in the weeks to come. Current performance of the database can be described as really, really slow, and the coming weeks will see an increase in the amount of use due to deadlines in 6 weeks. The server really needs to be more responsive than it is.

I am aware of the thread handling issues OS X seems to have, and that is part of my concern/consideration.

My problem is complex. I'm aware of some database problems (for instance, it needs to be normalized), but this is crunch time and I'm really unable (and unwilling) to mess with the internals of FileMaker's db this soon into the game. So while that needs to be done to increase performance, it's not something that can be done immediately.

So, I'm basically stuck with throwing hardware at the problem. The problem is that when the fmserverd process reaches around 65 processes (from an 'idle' 56 or so), it seems to get into a user-interruptible deadlock condition, where performance all but ceases (ie, table lookups of simple stuff take forever) until thread count/user connections decrease. I'm unable to use the FM admin console during the day as a result of this. Queries will take 30 seconds or so (albiet, returning quite a few rows) when more than one person performs such a search at a time - and so on and so forth.

Current system utilization is pretty thorough. Of the 1.5Gb memory and 7.5Gb swap, fmserverd is using 325Mb ram, 455 vm, and java (owned by the fmserver user, which I can only assume is necessary and associated to FM) is using 100 and 800 megabytes, respectively. Total picture is only about 50Mb of RAM free - and we're seeing the occasional lag in FM from system paging as a result, I believe.

Aside from that, processor use tends to remain fairly constantly over 50% utilization, and people are complaining about performance. (I should note, an upgrade to FMS9 from FMS7 was made about 2 weeks prior to my arrival here, and this may partially be a symptom of that move.)

My question(s) is/are: how much of a performance boost will I realistically get from migrating to a new server? This seems like the only realistic, immediate course of action which can be taken for me. I'm looking at the load on the existing server and trying to find hardware comparisons, all while wondering if OS X would perform sufficiently better on (say) a Quad Core Xeon or 2 Dual Core Xeons with 4Gb+ to help mitigate the issue. I believe I could easily see a 2x performance boost with even a low-end (refurb) server, but I'd like some input before I commit my new employer (of under a week) to a $5,000 purchase!

Any/all advice would be appreciated.

[Richard Rönnbäck]

You would definitely see a substantial improvment. I doubt however that the problems will just go away. What you are describing seems to be a database design problem - it is simply not designed with performance in mind.

There could however also be other issues, such as corrupt databases etc, a system running out of diskspace etc.

The only way you will know is to study the users carefully and see exactly what causes the slowness.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I've currently got a 1.25GHz G4 Powermac with 1.5G RAM running FileMaker Server 9.

This is out of minimum spec range. Don't get more than a dual processor machine, but do upgrade to a G5 or a Xeon processor. Also, up the RAM to 4 GB.

All that said, you may have other issues, especially the file architecture and the hard drive subsystem.

Steven

[hob]

The G4 mac will certainly not do the job for you. FMServer 9 runs best on universal macintosh. Be sure to load up with enough RAM 2gb min. The more processing speed the better. Also make sure you have gigabit ethernet and located centrally on your switch (Network Hub).

We have found that FMserver works best on PC platform. We are running XP and speed is decent. We are serving out a lot of image data with few speed issues.

[xochi]

Yes, upgrade your hardware. But also look for performance-killing actions that may be happening -- for example, large Finds on un-indexed fields, summary fields that are being updated at the wrong time (such as in browse mode), etc.

Also, make sure your clients have adequate cache settings -- I usually set to 128MB and have noticed significant speedups over the default setting of 8MB in some cases.

[Vaughan]

"I've currently got a 1.25GHz G4 Powermac with 1.5G RAM running FileMaker Server 9."

I didn't think FMS 9 would even install on a G4 box.