external container store and embedding

[Aussie John]

Im not if I understand how 'external storage" works in relation to embedded  and referenced fields. If an image is stored externally does that mean it is essentially referenced and not embedded regardless of whether the import option of referencing is chosen?

 

 

[Wim Decorte]

"external storage" only works with embedded container data.  What FMS does in that case is take the remote container data and stores it on FMS but separate from the main FM file.  Lots of benefits in that, mostly around backup times and disk space consumed.  With "external storage" everything behaves as if the data was embedded and FMS just does some file management in the background for you.

When you insert container data as "referenced" then FM does not touch the referenced file at all.  It only takes note of its address and stores the address.  The referenced file is never sent to FMS or stored there or backed up.  The container data is not part of the FM file, just its location.

 

 

[Aussie John]

Thanks Wim your penultimate sentence answers my question. 

That said when you import a folder of objects  into an external container you still get the option to reference. I assume this doesn't make any difference as I think the image still is moved to the external location. 

Edited November 20, 2015 by Aussie John

[Wim Decorte]

Not sure what you think does not make a difference.  As soon as you toggle on the option to "reference", then FM does not store the data.  At that point it does not matter whether the container field is set up for external storage or not because not data goes in it (except for the referenced location).

So to be clear: say that you have container set up for external storage.  You import or otherwise set something in that container field.  When you choose "reference only" then NOTHING gets stored where FMS keeps its external (remote) container data.

[siroos12]

On 11/20/2015 at 1:37 AM, Wim Decorte said:

Not sure what you think does not make a difference.  As soon as you toggle on the option to "reference", then FM does not store the data.  At that point it does not matter whether the container field is set up for external storage or not because not data goes in it (except for the referenced location).

So to be clear: say that you have container set up for external storage.  You import or otherwise set something in that container field.  When you choose "reference only" then NOTHING gets stored where FMS keeps its external (remote) container data.

Dear Wim,

 

I have a database hosted on Filemaker server with:

• Almost 12000 records.
• All the Container fields are set to store data externally.
• All the container data have been transferred.
• We use FM Easysync to sync our Ipads with the server file.

The problem is the file size is still very big. Almost 72 GB.

 

Any suggestions?

 

Regards,

[Wim Decorte]

Not without actually seeing the file or knowing a lot more about it's architecture.  At first glance it would seem that the external storage did not actually happen.

Did you try a "save as compacted" after enabling the RC storage?

How many tables and how many fields per table?

[siroos12]

Ok, please see attached screen shot to get more info about tables in my file.(Sorry, I had to erasure it on the ground of security.) I can not save as compacted for now as users are working on the file. I have to do it over the weekend do I can close the file from admin console and save it as compact.

Edited March 3, 2016 by siroos12

[Wim Decorte]

that looks reasonable and would not account for the size.   Did you check each container field?  

Are you storing big chunks of text in single fields?

[siroos12]

No big texts and all the containers in all tables are set to store data externally.

 

I did try to set the containers to store embedded files then reset it to store externally and transferred data but it does not change the file size.So I decided to make a clone copy and set the containers in that copy to NOT to store externally. Now I am importing data from my big file to this clone one. So after it finishes, then I will upload it on my server and then set the container to store externally and transfer the data afterwards. 

 

Do you think I am doing it right? do you have any alternatives? it seems that it will take long time to import all the records.

 

I attached a screenshot of my Task Manager while the file is open on the Filemaker server.As you can see the it takes all the RAM of my server computer.

Here is specs of the Server PC:

 

Processor: Intel Core i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40 GH

RAM: 16 GB

Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit

 

Thanks. 

 

Edited March 3, 2016 by siroos12

[Wim Decorte]

Not sure what you mean by this:

 

5 hours ago, siroos12 said:

 

I did try to set the containers to store embedded files then reset it to store externally

I also would not have done the clone-then-import: I would have waited for an opportune moment and do the "save as compacted".

Out of curiosity: how big was the cloned empty file?

 

The screenshot: it shows that FMS is only using slightly less than 800MB, that's not 99% of your 16GB... so something else is putting pressure on the memory.

How high do you have the FMS cache?

How many concurrent users in the system typically?

I'm assuming you're still on FMS13?

[siroos12]

On 3/4/2016 at 3:52 AM, Wim Decorte said:

Not sure what you mean by this:

 

I also would not have done the clone-then-import: I would have waited for an opportune moment and do the "save as compacted".

Out of curiosity: how big was the cloned empty file?

 

The screenshot: it shows that FMS is only using slightly less than 800MB, that's not 99% of your 16GB... so something else is putting pressure on the memory.

How high do you have the FMS cache?

How many concurrent users in the system typically?

I'm assuming you're still on FMS13?

Wim,

The problem was our hard drive which was almost full. We replaced it with a new hard drive and upgraded the RAM of the server. The Filemaler database is fast enough now. But the file is still big and it is growing. Even when I add documents to those container which are set to store externally,  the file grows significantly while the number of records are still the same and I only added documents to existing records.

 

We are using FM 14 both server and pro.

Edited March 10, 2016 by siroos12