server slowing down

[the walker]

I have been using fms 5.5 for nearly a year with about 30 files hosted to about 10 - 15 people and it has been fine, very fast and near to zero crashes but recently i have added a few new tables which takes the total upto about 50 add the server has slowed right down. it takes ages to bring up the host box or to perform searches sorts and large calculations

does any one know why this could be

i have all the files on multi user (not hidden) , it is set to flush the cache every 15 mins, with 40 mb of cache. it is set to only allow 20 users at a time and 70 files hosted as a max

the server itself is a new g4 with 512mb ram os 9.2

the server also runs a file share i know that filemaker server need its dedicated machine but it was never a problem before

if anone can see something i am doing wrong or a setting that would help speed things up i would be very grateful for a reply

[LiveOak]

We regularly host the maximum number of files and and 25 users. I think you might have answered your own question. They are serious, I would NOT use file sharing on the machine. Did you recently upgrade to 9.2, I don't think it has been out a year. Also make sure that FM is in the foreground (not the finder). This has a large effect on speed. As an alternative use Clarkwood Software's Peek-a-Boo to assign process priority to the various processes running (www.clarkwood.com).

I don't know if it is even possible, but if someone is opening the files used by the server via file sharing, you are in deep trouble. This will slow operation to a crawl and make things very unstable.

-bd

[the walker]

we did recently upgrade to 9.2 but in the new year we will be putting it onto mac os X as i have been told that this should improve hings a lot .

there is no way they can get to the database through the file share as it is in the fms 5 folder which is outside the file that is being shared, will it make any odd that two of the tables are around 30 mb each and one file has about 300 fields

[DykstrL]

"it takes ages to bring up the host box"

This tells me that the slowdown may be with your network. Check to see if any changes have been made. Is there something else that might be causing an increase in network traffic. Some routers (like Cisco) have also been vulnerable to the Code Red Virus, causing slowdowns and even some routers have been 'trashed'.

[LiveOak]

30 MB files with 300 fields should be no problem, that really isn't THAT large. Have you run all the usual diagnostics, including Norton Utilities and Speed Disk?

-bd

[Steven H. Blackwell]

There are so many things here it is hard to know where to begin. Try some of these and see what happens.

Turn OFF OFF OFF OFF file sharing. If that box has EVER had ASIP on it, wipe it totally and reinstall the OS and FIleMAker Server.

Set number of files to be about 3 or 4 over a tual number you have. Do the same for users.

Set cache to around 12 MB, not 40. Monitor the performance in the Admin screens to assure that cache hits are between 95 and 100 in consistent normal use.

Be sure there is no autosensing on the hubs or switches. Be sure you don't have a bad NIC card somewhere on the network, especially the server.

Use TCP ONLY. Do not use AppleTalk.

Be sure screen savers and energy savers are diabled. Be sure there is NO sherlock indexing going on.

Be sure you're running the latest version, including updaters. If running OS 9, be sure virtual memory is OFF.

HTH

Old Advance Man

[the walker]

cheers all i think i might push for a dedicated server in next years IT budget

[the walker]

just a quick question that you might know :

Where are all the calculations performed on hosted databases

i take it they are done on the client computer as i have such varying results on different client machines in speed on doing large calculations or sorts

[Steven H. Blackwell]

quote:

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Originally posted by thewalker:

just a quick question that you might know :

Where are all the calculations performed on hosted databases

i take it they are done on the client computer as i have such varying results on different client machines in speed on doing large calculations or sorts

---

Certainly all the unstored ones are done on the guest, as are MOST FileMaker Pro functions. The server performs some features related to indexing, and that may have an impact on sorting.

If you are using FileMaker Pro 5 or FileMaker Pro 5.5, be sure to have at least 500MB of free disk space on your workstation. That--and appropriate memory settings for FIleMaker Pro on the workstation--will dramatically improve performance.

HTH

Old Advance Man

[jcohen]

We had this exact same problem at my work. Our IT staff tried all the above mentioned solutions. As it turned out, it was a VERY simple error. Someone (who knows better) was placing FM Server program in the background. When we noticed this and moved FM Server program to be the foreground application, speeds were back to normal.

FM Server will use little to no computer resources when the application is in the background. I am sure you have tried this, but it wasn't mentioned above.