I spoke with my DSL provider today about the cost of getting a static IP address.

For $50 set up fee and $15 per month they can assign me a block of 5 static IP addresses.

I have a new imac on my cabinet shop floor that only filemaker pro and currently just runs one database.

This computer is strictly used as a task manager.

This computer is linked to the one in my office with an ethernet cable and I open this file remotely.

Would  having a static ip address allow me to access this filemaker document (or imac) from my computer at home?

The short answer is yes. You will need to setup some port forwarding on your DSL router to allow traffic to reach the internal machine hosting the database.

If that is gobble-de-gook to you then you might also need some local help to set the router up.

Would having a static ip address allow me to access this filemaker document (or imac) from my computer at home?

That's a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one. You may need to set the file to multi-user and also determine how it will be kept open if you want to have access more or less all the time.

FileMaker Server probably is a better bet for hosting files for access both inside the office and by remote access as well. It's also safer.

Steven

Thanks for the heads up on Port Forwarding.

The tech person from the phone company said that he could walk me through some things I need to change on my router. Presumably this is what he meant.

My phone call to the was just to find how much that part of the program was going to cost.

It was during that phone call that the idea arose to see if I could get access to that specific computer without the extra expense of an additional computer and server license.

I presently spend $80 a month for fairly limited access to a web hosted database.

I would stay with this program except that the only way I can upload PDF documents to container fields is to embed them. After a while the database gets very clunky and unstable and is prone to freezing with the spinning beach ball of death.

My ultimate plan (as soon as I can find a profit again in the construction industry) is to set myself up with a server and probably implement Super Container.

Steven,

You said that hosting databases on server was safer.

What do you mean by that?

If you are already using a hosting service, albeit with poor results - it will still be better than you can provide for yourself if you host from your office.

Basically you haven't got enough DSL push (outbound) bandwidth to support the PDF upload to the hosted service, and that's the most probable reason why it fails.

If you host the file yourself then you still have the same problem, but from the aspect of remote access, and you won't be able to view/download the embedded PDFs because your DSL service is still trying to push the PDFs out of your office.

As a rough guide, you should get around 10-20% of your download speed (that's the headline speed they use for advertising!) - so 10Mb down = 1-2Mb up.

Look around for other hosting options.

1) $80 seems high for hosting. Even several files. You should get SuperContainer included for that much.

2) You don't need a static IP address from your ISP. I've used Dyn successfully for $30 a year.

I meant just what I said. Peer to peer hosting is flaky and when the crash occurs, it will trash your files. That's why we have FIleMaker Server. http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-server/

Steven