mac | pc Should I use a mac or windows for FM Server 13?

[Epiphone]

Hi everyone.  I'm working for a very small company (4-5) users.  The project I'm working on is upgrading them from FM 5.5 to FM 13.

 

I've successfully managed to upgrade the database files, now we have to focus on the hardware.  I think it's 3-4 Mac users, and 1-2 PC users.  They would like the ability to use the database remotely. Right now, they have FM Server on an again old mac machine.

 

Were looking to buy a new server.  Mac or Windows?  Pros, and cons?

[Wim Decorte]

What will you (and they when/if you leave) be most comfortable supporting?

 

Also keep in mind any required scalability if the business is set to grow over the next couple of years.

[Epiphone]

I feel most comfortable with Windows Server as I've only used a Mac a few times.  I'm wondering if FM Server is even needed for such a small organization.  Can't I just host the files on a reliable machine?  What do people typically use FM Server for besides backup plans?

[Wim Decorte]

server-side script schedules and script sequence schedules to pre-aggregate report data and other routines.

Stability and security: the hassle of having a user always logged into your server is a security issue.  And making sure that FMP is always running and has the files open is cumbersome and not very stable.

Keep in mind that FM13 has bumped the # of concurrent peer-to-peer sharing down from 9 to 5.  So you would not have any room for growth.

 

Don't discount the live backups so easily though: the ability to do that (and do it intelligently) is a must for any size deployment.