Best Mac OS type for Server

[dvalley]

We are running FM Server 5.0 on serveral Mac G4s running OS 9.x. We have had several cases where Filemaker unexpectedly quits. Would FM Server run better on a real server computer, what about Server OS?

[LiveOak]

There really is no server OS (except OS X Server). If you are on a G4, you will need to run some version of OS 9. Only some VERY early G4's will run a special version of OS 8.6. On either Win or Mac, unless you spend around $ 3,000, I'm not sure what anyone is selling is enough different to be considered a REAL server computer. The exception on the Mac side is the new rack mount server. But this is not necessary, your problem is all software.

1) Run either OS 9.0.4 or 9.2.2

2) Turn off all extensions you can, Quicktime, Control Strip, etc.

3) MAKE SURE FILE SHARING IS OFF!. Turning File Sharing on is an absolutely certain way to cause crashes. Do NOT use the FM Sever machine to run other applications or share files.

4) Improve performace if the Finder is clicked into the foreground by using Peek-a-Boo from Clarkwood Software (www.clarkwoodsoftware.com). This allow you to explicitly specify which tasks receive what allocation of processor time.

5) Use a Kick-off from Sophisticated Circuits to provide automated crash restart and application error logging.

6) For improved peformance, use a RAM disk implemented with Clarkwood Software's RAMBunctious (don't use the built in RAM disk settings). Setup RAMBunctious to perform write-thru's every 5-10 minutes. You MUST use a UPS in this configuration (Belkin's and MGE's work the best with Macs).

We have one client installation that uses 5 G4 Cubes running FM Server (and two AppleShare IP servers). These machine will run 6 months at a time with no attention (not that I'm recommending this period between checks). They are running the configuration I have described (Kick-off, Peek-a-Boo, RAMBunctious, UPS) with OS 9.0.4.

-bd

[kenneth2k1]

"The exception on the Mac side is the new rack mount server. But this is not necessary, your problem is all software."

By the way, did you see the unilited license feature of Unix-based OSX Server? That's really cool.

Ken

[Anatoli]

Get the PC

Sorry I couldn't resist

In past I wrote

[LiveOak]

We are still very much in learning mode about OS X. We do like OS X server a lot for web hosting (in fact, this forum!). The license arrangement on the new Mac server is too cool.

-bd

[stanley]

You may want to look at the responses to my query (about five below this on the list) "G3 Server Crashes." Mostly it was about the difference in stability between 9.x and 8.6. We have changed over to 8.6 and all the strange behavior we had earlier has now vanished. However, you're on a G4, so that may not be an option for you.

We had nothing but trouble with 9.x, and if you are running on newer G4s, I think you should seriously look into OSX. The latest versions are stable and flexible, and come with some seriously powerful tools.

-Stanley

[scratchmalogicalwax]

We were wondering the same thing - how to get the best out of FMServer - we of course are sticking with Mac

So I downloaded FMBench and tested three setups on a 933Mhz G4 Server

1. Mac OSX 10.1.3 FMPro 5.5 Server v2

2. Mac OS 9.2.2 every extension you can stripped out and still run the OS and FMPro 5.5 Server(no v2 available is there nothing u could improve Filemaker? )

3. Mac OS 9.2.2 every extension you can stripped out and still run the OS and FMPro 5.0v2 Server

All tested from FMPro 5.5 client on 800Mhz G4. Client and server connected by 100BaseT network

The fastest was OSX as expected followed by 5.5 on 9.2.2 and last was 5.0v2 on 9.2.2

What was suprising though was that there was only 8 seconds difference between all of them! (6 seconds between 1st and 2nd).

We are yet to test with the server under load. We will then see how the better memory management of OSX effects the results.

You can download the FMBench at:

http://fmp.markcon.com

It would be interesting to hear about other peoples results