speter28 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 OK, we have an external hard-drive that stores our filemaker data which IS NOT directly connected to any one computer. We then have several computers which can access the file. Recently, we started to use the file more often which necessitated sharing the file so several users could use at one time. We also recently added filemaker to several new computers. My problem is this: The new computers are not able to access the file as a guest, i.e., they can not open the file if someone else already has it open. However, if the new computers are the host, others can access the file as a guest. I am fairly sure this means that that there are settings on the new computers that aren't correct, but does anyone know what this might be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Witberg Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 What you are trying to do is risky. If you are setting up a networked solution, do so using filemaker sharing not OS level ("file") sharing. File sharing that way is a cause of database corruption. Having free access to a file, e.g. to back it up or make copies or do whatever, is running a risk of corruption if the database is simultaneously being accessed by someone. The recommended way is to set up a dedicated computer running Filemaker Pro (up to ten clients) or Filemaker Server (more clients and better performance). The database is always open on this dedicated machine and the users can access the file using Open Remote in the filemaker menu.the volume on which the database is stored should not be visible on the network in any other way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speter28 Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 I appreciate the suggestions, and I will look into fm server. My question still remains though, and pretend none of what you said applies to my situation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Witberg Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 allright. If you want to play with fire, it's your database. But my guess is the files aren't set to share and the computer acting as host has the local data access companion switched off (see menu->file->sharing). So they accept only one user. I'm a bit rusty in v6 but I think these are the settings. If you allow the files to be shared, then what happens in your setup is this: User 1 opens the file on the remote volume. So the data is stored on this remote volume but all data manipulation is handled on the computer of user 1. Now user 2 tries to open the file. He can't, because it's already open. The only thing he can do is log in using open remote. Then what happens is this: the computer of user 1 acts as host. But the data still resides on the remote volume. So he has to access the data through the host's computer, making for double network traffic. running a simple script will take ages. Now user 3 wants to open the file. See the network traffic balloon? Steer away from this setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speter28 Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 OK, I gotcha...gunna talk to the boss man and get FM server. Our department IT sets the firewall and so I can't open port 5003 because it isn't controlled through XP, so I others can't connect remotely and can't open at all if I've opened the file first, but the opposite still isn't true. At this point, I'm just curious as to why this is the case...now to get fm sever... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Witberg Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 one more thing. version 6 and server 5.5 had the end-of-life in dec 2006. this means filemaker inc. no longer ships nor services it. You need to search on ebay or like sites for it. watch out for the real stuff.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speter28 Posted January 23, 2008 Author Share Posted January 23, 2008 sorry, to clarify: FM6 and FM server 9 are not compatible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AHunter3 Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Totally not compatible, that is correct. You need FileMaker Server 5.x (there is no such thing as FileMaker Server 6), running on a dedicated host machine (not on a file server). FileMaker Server 5.x is not being sold any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
speter28 Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 I imagine I might be able to find this elsewhere, but you've been very helpful...As before, we use FM6 and have over 800 records in a current file, if we upgrade to FM9 and the server, is there a way to import our current database and records into FM9? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maarten Witberg Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 If you have a single (flat) file solution, this should not be too difficult. If you have a relational solution, read the tech brief listed here To the best of my knowledge filemaker 9 will directly convert filemaker 6 files, effectively creating a converted copy of the old file. The converted copy will only be readable in version 7 through 9, no longer in 6. Just open filemaker 9 and open your version 6 file in it, and follow the steps. make sure you backup your original beforehand, just in case. In due time it might be advisable to create a solution that makes better use of the possibilities of version 9. But you should be good to go with a straight conversion. edited Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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