FM6 Slow Loading Throughout Use

[Lee_UPC]

This is a similar problem to the one listed by Guy B, only in my case, FM is slow in several areas. It's slow to start up & open files, slow when displaying lists, slow to execute scripts... I'm guessing there's no easy answer to this question, since there are so many possibilities: we're running old software (client 6, server 5.5) on an old OS (Win 2K Server), and there are intricate scripts and 100+ fields in most of our DBs. Much of it wasn't created by me- I was lucky enough to inherit this mess when I got hired.

Let me isolate one specific example and posit a direct question:

We have a value list with abbreviated names of 70+ properties, and this usually takes about 10 seconds to display when the field is clicked on. Is there any way to speed up the load process, or am I asking too much of this poor database?

Thanks in advance.

[Fitch]

It's hard to say, but look for unstored calcs, those can really kill performance.

[Guy B]

Can you elaborate on looking up "unstored calcs"? I'm not entirely sure what you're referring to.

Thanks.

[Fitch]

From the online help:

"FileMaker Pro stores most calculation field values immediately after the field is defined, when the Manage Database dialog box is closed. By default, [color:blue]calculations that include a related field, summary field, global field, or a reference to another unstored calculation are unstored; all other calculations are stored."

Performance Optimization of FileMaker Pro 7, FileMaker Pro 8 and FileMaker Pro 8.5 Databases

Or maybe your server needs a tuneup. Be sure to stop FileMaker Server before you do any disk optimizing. And if you have virus checking, tell it to ignore the live FileMaker files.

More info: FileMaker Server Best Practices