FM10 and 64-bit Windows

[djlane]

It appears that the FM10 Family is compatible with 64-bit Windows. But genx said recently http://fmforums.com/forum/showpost.php?pid/312472/ that FM is a 32 bit application and will run as a 32 bit application regardless of the OS. He said this in mid December, so I don’t know if he was referring to FM10 as well.

So, does anyone know if FM10 (in particular Server) is still a 32 bit application ?

And if this is the case, is it true to say that FM cannot make use of more than 4GB RAM - ie that it’s pointless to install > 4GB of you have FMS10 running on a 64 bit machine ?

[Genx]

They make it surprisingly difficult to find a straight answer for this. They might just be trying to cover their butt's here and attempting to delay a full list of supported OS's and configurations until they see how many support call's crop up :

Anyway, what we know:

1) FMPro 10 still runs as a 32 bit application. The most recent KB article regarding 64-bit support is available below. It's from october last year, but hasn't been updated... http://filemaker.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/filemaker.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=5587

That being said, I haven't had any particular problems with either 9 or 10.

2) FileMaker Server runs on the 64-bit editions of Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 per http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/documentation/fms10_getting_started_en.pdf page 57.

3) Given that they force you to enable 32Bit Application support in the IIS application pool, i'm going to make an educated guess and say that it still runs as a 32bit app.

4) ... what is it you're doing with FMS that you expect it to eat more than the recommended 2GB of ram? The main problem with speed issues in a network environment will almost never be the amount of ram you've given the server.

Edited January 24, 2009 by Guest

[Steven H. Blackwell]

FileMaker Server 10 will run on Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition 64 bit version, but only as a 32 bit service. If web publishing is enabled, the filters must be installed as well.

FileMaker Server 10 can utilize a maximum of 2 GB RAM, of which a maximum of 800 MB can be assigned as cache.

Steven

[Genx]

Thanks for the clarification on the max ram Steven - I honestly couldn't find it anywhere - the "technical specs" only show recommended and min configurations.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

It's in the Server Tech Brief. But here is hw it works. using this formula:

C=(R-128)*0.25

where C is the amount of cache that can be assigned,and,

R is the amount of RAM installed.

There is an absolute maximum limit of 2 GB for C.

[color:red]I was asleep when I wrote the prior sentence. The maximum amount of cahce is 800 MB.

Steven

Edited January 25, 2009 by Guest
Correct a mistatement.

[Genx]

Hmmm, okay so just to clarify (probably important especially with the new theoretical client ceilings):

Max RAM FMS utilizes for general operations: 2GB

Max RAM FMS can utilize for its cache: 2GB (meaning the system would need to have ~ 8GB of RAM to allocate the full cache).

So on an 8GB system with max utilization/allocation of both we've got 4GB used in total?

Cheers.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Max RAM FMS can utilize for its cache: 2GB (meaning the system would need to have ~ 8GB of RAM to allocate the full cache).

[color:red]

No. The maximum amount it can use for cache is 800 MB. I was asleep when I wrote 2 GB earlier. Sorry for the error.

Steven

[Genx]

Thanks for the clarification. I just realized that the formula is actually used for scenario's where the available system ram is less than 2GB.

[djlane]

Hi Steven, could you please post a link to the FM10SA tech brief - I can't find it anywhere. Its not here at the FM10 Product Documentation center.

I'm still a little confused about the RAM and other specs. I've seen the min specs and the recommended specs. What about the "dream" specs? For example you wrote before that FM could not use anything higher than dual core. Is that still the case with FM10 ?

And with regard to the RAM – 2 gb is the maximum RAM that FM can utilize, of which 800mb can be used for cache?

But here you said “Third, 2 GB is the minimum amount of RAM you should use. For best results, especially with IWP, use 4 GB RAM. Do not use more than 4 GB; FIleMaker Server cannot utilize it.”

FM10SA can host up to 999 FM clients, 100 IWP clients, 125 databases and 50 ODBC / JDBC clients. All this with 2gb RAM ?

So I guess my question is this : assuming an installation that stretches FM10SA to its theoretical limit, what would be the specs of the server (hardware and OS) that you would choose to run this on ?

PS. I note that David Graham says here that FM will most likely run slower on a 64-bit OS !

Wouldn’t it be nice if FM published a table which gave the minimum, recommended and maximum specs for their product line !

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Server 10 has improved functionality for multiple cores.

The amount of RAM when using IWP should be 4 GB especially on a single machine deployment. The Web Publishing Engine can use additional RAM beyond what the Server engine uses.

The maximum amount of RAM that FMS (the server engine) can use is 2 GB. Of that amount, a maximum of 800 MB can be reserved for cache.

FMS is a 32 bit service/daemon, and therefore its behavior is consistent with the 32 bit architecture.

Steven

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Hi Steven, could you please post a link to the FM10SA tech brief - I can't find it anywhere. Its not here at the FM10 Product Documentation center.

Let me see what I can find here. Alternatively, take a look at the Server 10 Video Tutorials that Wim Decorte did. Wim was also the author of the Tech Brief.

Steven

[djlane]

OK, so pulling together the various pieces of info : 2gb is the ideal RAM for server, add and additional 2gb if running IWP on the same machine.

FMS10 has improved functionality for multiple cores, so a quad core processor is good.

Disk speed is more important than CPU speed (see here ) so very fast disks, with RAID are ideal. You have also said that you like to have three separate physical drives, one for the OS and FMS; the second for the databases; and, the third, for local backups and logs.

Only one thing left - the OS. David Graham said that FM might run slower on a 64-bit machine, but he was referring to FM Pro, not server.

Will FMSA10 run better on a 32-bit or 64-bit OS ?

And, just for the record, what about FMSA9?

[mark gorney]

So non-Server FM10 will work with Windows 7 64 bit?

Edited January 14, 2010 by Guest

[djlane]

Yes mark, I have FM10A running perfectly well on Windows 7 64 bit.

[zanlok]

@old advance man.. Can you re-verify what you said about the RAM, regarding the new version (FMSA11)? I can't find anything in the documentation saying a "max" RAM that can be utilized by "FMS". They do recommend 4GB for RAM, though.