Synchronizing Two Databases

[joe187]

I have two departments who want to share a FM DB across a small WAN. The performance is poor, so I had the bright idea of locating

an FM Server on either coast, and letting the daily edits stay local. I would then somehow sync the two using scripts overnight. The new import feature in FM5 allows this, in a messy sort of way, except for deletes. I don't know how to accommodate deleted records.

Also - am I way off base here - these files use a lot of scripts, so I don't believe offering them using the web interface would help - I don't think you can run scripts in the browser. Any ideas to help would be much appreciated.

[BobWeaver]

You might want to have a look at the following topic:

http://www.fmforums.com/ubb/Forum15/HTML/000216.html

The deleted record issue can be handled a couple of ways, but that is the least of your problems.

There is no fully automatic way to sync the files. What happens if two users edit the same record on different copies of the database? Which record is now correct? The import-with-update operation will overwrite the main file's record with the imported one whether that's right or wrong.

[Robert R]

A difficult but clean solution: design the systems such that each "edit" is actually its own transaction (record). When viewed together, you would see what transactions each has done. This only works if "Transactions" are never edited. They can only be updated by adding new transactions. Kind of like a phone log.

Probably not practical in most cases.

Just a thought...

[George]

Depending on the time zone for each location, you could create a date time field(s) that were updated on modification of the record. Base your import on the record with the most recent modification. For the time zone difference, you may have to performa conversion to Universal Time.