I have several users working with a FileMaker Server hosted database who are complaining that they are being disconnected frequently. The most common message seems to be:

Communication with the host was interrupted and could not be re-established(-3259) (Close File).

This is on a Blue G3 Tower running OS 8.6 and FileMaker Server 5.0v2.

AppleShare IP is running as well. I just disabled the Energy Saver control panel in an attempt to see if that has any effect. I believe I have eliminated any network issues as all other IP services are functioning normally at times when users are unable to connect.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Tony Andrews

Not that this is necessarily the cause, but I would NEVER run both ASIP and Filemaker Server on the same machine.

Putting Filemaker Server on its own machine will more than pay for itself in support costs.

I cannot remember the last time I had to even touch one of our 5 Filemaker Servers, it has been months at least.

Got to go with the Captain here !

Under no circumstances run FM Server with ASIP. I got this from FMP tech one day.

Certainly FM Server should be on a dedicated machine.

If cost is an issue then pick up one of the G3 iMacs.

I understand the concern over having AppleShare IP running on the same server and will happily remove it if it is truly the cause of the trouble. The only reason it is turned on is to allow the person who maintains the database to have access to particular files from anywhere (home or office). Otherwise, this computer is never accessed as an AppleShare file server... it just sits idle in the background.

Again, if this is truly the cause of the (-3259) error then I will gladly remove it.

Tony

Tony

Try using Timbuktu (I do)

That way you can dump File Sharing and AppleShareIP completely

Incidentaly, Appleshare IP doesn't run like other apps. Sure you can put the status windows etc.. in background, but ASIP is still contiuously monitoring for network stuff, thus reducing processor time for FMS.

You could try setting FMS to have more CPU time (see prefs) - but I suspect you'll still have the same problems.

Thanks for the advice... I dumped AppleShare IP for now. How about the error (-3259)? Anyone have any idea what that error means specifically?

Tony

OK... I finally figured out that the 3259 error was an Open Transport error. Still not sure what might be causing the error, but I do have that.

Also... I posted a question earlier regarding the way data was "saved" to a database in the client-server scenario and the overwhelming opinion seemed to be that data should be automatically saved during idle time or after the pre-designated cache dump time. I indicated that users were working for 40-50 minutes on a single record and would get disconnected with the 3259 error and would *lose* all of the information they typed. FileMaker support indicated to me the other day that data won't actually get written to the database until a user changes to another record! This explanation would fit with what my users are telling me.

Any comments?

Another issue I have seen similar to this is some third party screen savers will suspend any network (or modem) activity when they activate. My guess is so animations don't run jerky because of network calls.

I had a screen saver made by Sierra that would cause the same symtoms every time it started up and I had FileMaker open to a server-hosted file. I don't remember any error codes, but either FileMaker would crash or I would get the "connection with the host has been interrupted..." . I ended up trashing the screen saver.

This was on a beige G3 and OS9.