FM vs External Authentication

[David Jondreau]

I'm wondering if I should move to External Authentication.

 

I've got a single file hosted with FMS13 and I'm up to about 100 accounts right now. I expect it to double in the next year and about 3/4 of those are for CWP access.

 

I'm not sure what the advantages would be of switching, especially since I don't have an "IT Department" that is any more comfortable adding users to the server than he is adding accounts to the file. Is there a limit to the number of FM authenticated accounts I should have?

 

What's good practice here?

 

Thanks!

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I am a firm believer in External Server Authentication, especially when there is more than one file in the solution. Although that presently is not your case, David, it might become that way in the future.

 

One hundred internal Accounts in a FileMaker Pro file is not an excessive number, but it can become unwieldy.  Depending on the OS of the server machine itself, adding Accounts and assigning an Account to a Group is pretty straightforward.  A little training may help your "IT Department" become comfortable doing that.

 

There is a White Paper about External Server Authentication from FileMaker, Inc. that may offer you more information. The best parts of it were authored by the inimitable Server expert Wim Decorte.  Other parts were authored by some old guy.  If you cannot locate this, please advise, and we can get it to you.

 

Steven