FX.php problems with 10.6.8 ?

[fishtech]

Hi,

I have a 2-server web-publishing setup. The data is on a FileMaker 11.0.3 Advanced server and the web publishing engine (WPE) is on a separate 11.0.3 machine with Apache.

Both machines are Macs running 10.6.8.

I am publishing via PHP and html using FX.php.

This setup has worked great for at least 12 months. However, in the last week the WPE machine started behaving erratically.

The time taken for the search home-page to load has increased dramatically and the searches take a long time. Activity Monitor shows that 'FM Web Publishing' is consistently using 120-150% of available CPU.

This possibly coincided with the upgrade to 10.6.8, though I am not 100% sure.

Having verified disks, checked logs, etc, on teh WPE machine today I called FM Inc and paid for a support call. They are unable to help me because I am running FX.php. I have to switch to FM.php before they will help.

So...

Is it possible FX.php is causing the issue?

If so I will need to migrate, but can anyone point me to a good FX.php > FM.php migration guide?

Many thanks,

ft.

[webko]

I find it unlikely that FX is the cause of this issue - it's just an interpreting layer for the XML produced by the WPE, and one that is slightly more compact that the PHP API (in my opinion).

I'd be checking the logs for large datasets being called.

The XML engine is single-threaded, and if it gets a large request, will not handle any others until that one is complete. So they stack up, and get dealt with in turn, and if you get another large request in that time, so it goes on...

Especially if this is a system that has grown over time, what was a smallish request in the past may now be a large request. The same holds for both FX and the API.

Make sure people can't pull every record at once. Make your web layouts as slimline as possible (the truly dedicated will have a layout for every sort of request - a search, a list, a details etc.

HTH

Webko

[fishtech]

I find it unlikely that FX is the cause of this issue - it's just an interpreting layer for the XML produced by the WPE, and one that is slightly more compact that the PHP API (in my opinion).

I'd be checking the logs for large datasets being called.

...

Webko

Thanks for the reply.

This search page has been good for a looong time and gets 30 - 50 hits each day without these problems. The problem was first reported to me at 4:30pm last Friday, just before the holiday weekend. I had updated the WPE machine from 10.6.4 (i think) to 10.6.8 maybe that day (or the previous day) which may have caused the problem.

I didn't mention in my first post I am using OSX native PHP, instead of the PHP that FileMaker Server Advanced can install. I now notice PHP has been upgraded incrementally with each recent 10.6.x upgrade. I am not 100% sure if these PHP upgrades are part of this problem but right now it looks possible.

Since FM Inc would not help since I use OSX native PHP with FX.php, I guess I need to investigate moving my files to use FMInc's PHP with API so I can get support if needed.

Does FileMaker's PHP installation work OK with FX.php by any chance?

As a quick fix I have changed the server setup to 1-machine publishing (OSX native PHp) and it works fine for now in this setup.

I have a little breathing space,

ft.