Hi -
We're a vendor exploring remote access options of Ebase for a non-profit
organization who wants to access a central database over a modem.
We have not found any good options and want to report our findings, plus
find out from others what workable options they have found.
The first most serious issue we have found is with filemaker pro itself
wanting to send all the records in the database to the client upon startup.
That problem in itself causes problems with the rest of the possible access
solutions. For remote access, that behaviour is basically unacceptable.
We tested a VPN (virtual private network) connection, which was the solution
we thought would be good. It works - but too slowly for a modem on the
client side. It clients had a DSL connection (faster) then some issues may
be tolerable - but it doesn't change the fact that filemaker will still send
you all the database records on startup.
The second remote access we tested was terminal services. Filemaker pro
doesn't support terminal services, so that option will not allow a
multi-user, but also still sends all records on startup
We also tested the publishing of filemaker on the web, and when we found the
limitations of that, we have come to the conclusion that there are no good
solutions for using filemaker in a remote access way. It is not a good
database solution in this type of environment because of its wanting to send
all the records to the client on startup instead of just sending what the
client wants.
I've looked at one email from last july where a user had received two
proposals from two different vendors to do this. One proposal was for the
VPN, and the other was for a terminal services arrangement. Again, we have
found neither of those two solutions work - due to inherent way filemaker
pro works.
I'm interested in feedback from people doing remote access. What have we
missed? How are people doing this successfully? How big are your databases?
If you would share a phone number, I would be interested in talking with
those of you who are doing this successfully.
Sincerely,
Sara Moshman
MetaLogic, Inc.
4701 Innovation Drive
Lincoln, NE 68521
