mac Issues with cross platform network remote connectivity

[milanm]

Hi,

I have a problem with slow remote access to my database system running on FM Server 12 Advanced platform, from any device (MacBook Pro, iPhone, iPad or Windows PC).

 

Some other person configured and is controlling the network, so i need to have a clue to address this issue properly and try to resolve the problem. The situation i am facing is as follows:

 

There is a main server, Windows 2008, to which i am able to connect using the static IP address provided (ex. 31.161.*.*) and my username and password.

This IP address and the same credentials i also use to connect via VPN to the office system.

 

The Mac Server is connected to this network and has its network IP address (ex. 192.***.*.*). It is a Mac Pro Server machine and has a 2 x 2,93 Ghz 6-Core Intel xeon processor with 12Gb RAM.

FileMaker Server 12 Advanced is installed on this machine and set up to more or less default features and it has a Troi plug-in running various server side scripts from time to time (might be important to mention this, probably not).

 

When i connect remotely to the windows server from either my PC or my Mac platform, it works fine and i have a real-time user experience. Also, when i connect with "Open Remote" to the database files from that machine (Windows 2008 server) either using a localhost or a favourite host feature (both works) the speed is just fine, as expected. This works well both when connecting from Mac or Windows platform.

 

However, when i try to connect remotely directly to the Mac server machine, for example via VNC from Windows or Apple RD program from Mac the experience is poor as it could be. I could still connect and manage the files but everything goes extremely slow.

The same goes for connecting to the FileMaker database on the server. The users on the local are managing fine. If i connect to the windows 2008 server machine from a distant location and than from there connect to the database it works fine (fast). But, if i try to connect remotely to the database from any machine or iOS device either using or not using the VPN connection, it goes very, very slow to the point where it can not be defined as an acceptable user experience.

 

Obviously, there is some kind of firewall and router port issue that is allowing me (and other remote users) to get to the files but painfully slow.

 

I am working for many years on some other systems running FileMaker Server 11 and 10 versions on the Windows 2008 server and i never had this kind of a problem before, usually everything works fine at least once you get into the VPN, or it does not work at all. This is why in this case i dont know where to start, is it a router, port, the connection from windows server to Mac server, firewall on any of these computers, FM Server 12 issue or something out of my scope that is causing a problem.

 

If anybody can help and give me a clue i will be extremely gratefull. Thank you.

[Wim Decorte]

The Apple screen sharing is just slow.  The RDP functionality in Windows is much faster, nothing much you can do about that.

 

A WAN connection directly to the hosted files (with Open Remote) is always going to be much slower than the LAN connection.  That just the nature of the beast.  The connection speed is a fraction of the LAN speed and additionally there is latency.  So do not expect it ever to be as fast as a LAN connection, that is not realistic.

 

Both of these will run better on faster internet speeds.  The solution will be more responsive if you cut out anything that makes it "network-heavy".   From your description it does not seem to be network setup issue.

[milanm]

Thank you, thats what i thought, and i am doing my best to "clean" all the working files as much as possible.

What is confusing me is that the database works much faster when i login remotely into the Windows 2008 server and then "Open Remote" from there. When i say "painfully slow" i dont mean a minute or two but like 15 minute difference in opening files from remote location (from the windows server it opens in about 2 minutes while remotely it takes at least 13 - 15 minutes, sometimes even more). I will check the Mac Server firewall once again to see if all the requested ports are open (5003, 16000 and 16001) and if the other suggested ports are available ( 5013, 16004 and 50003). I dont no if it would help to switch off the webserver on the Mac machine...

[IdealData]

When you login to the Win2008 server you have effectively transported yourself inside the LAN and therefore are getting LAN speed and performance. Your remote login is subject to the speed of the internet connections at both ends, but more particularly the UPLOAD speed a the server end is critical.

 

What sort of internet connection do you have? ADSL? Typical upload speeds run around 10% of download.

 

If you cannot 'push' from the server at more than 2Mb/s (rough guide) then your WAN performance will be painfully slow.

[milanm]

Thank you for your help.

This office will get optical cable in April and therefore faster internet speed.

I will still try to open the FileMaker Server ports to the internet and see if deploying a webserver on the different machine could speed it up.

Will post about it if it works... 

[Wim Decorte]

What is confusing me is that the database works much faster when i login remotely into the Windows 2008 server and then "Open Remote" from there. 

 

Amplifying what IdealData explained: when you log into the Windows 2008 server first the only thing that flows between you and the remote location is keystrokes/mouse movements and "screen pictures".  No data whatsoever travels over the internet to you.

Whereas if you do a remote open of the FileMaker file from your location then all of the FM schema elements AND all of the FM data has to go out over those internet wires.  That is a lot more traffic, making it inherently slower.

[milanm]

This is correct,

fortunatily it does make a cache once the files are loaded, so afterwords it moves fairly fast.

My suggestion to the developers of FileMaker software (specialy FileMaker Go) - would be a good idea to have a "loading...%" feature before the files open if possible, rather then a big blank screen with little loading circle down. That would at least give the users the idea that something is happening, would be a great feature for opening bigger systems in iOS.