[FX.php List] Strange occurrence w/ FMP8 databases

Dale Bengston dbengston at preservationstudio.com
Thu Oct 25 20:00:15 MDT 2007


Hi Bob,

I'm not sure there's anything inherently bad about having file  
sharing turned on. It's what people might do with it that's a  
problem. I think file sharing is traditionally bad for three reasons:

1. It's possible that someone might navigate to the FMP files and  
open them across the network, instead of connecting via FileMaker  
Server. This is a recipe for certain, catastrophic carnage.

2. It's also possible that someone writing a file via file sharing  
might stomp on FileMaker's temp/cache files. My gut tells me this  
would be more of a problem under OS9 than OS X. I worked with a  
couple clients (back in the OS9 days) that had file sharing turned on  
for everyone so they could move files around easily. There were lots  
of crashes, even if no one was moving files on and off the Mac. I  
could increase the stability of a Mac by just shutting off file  
sharing. If a Mac got flakey again, you could bet it was because the  
user of that machine had turned file sharing back on.

3. File sharing takes network bandwidth away from your FileMaker  
stuff while people are moving files. (I come from a publishing  
background, where moving files to and from a server is easily many,  
many gigabytes every day.)

With OS X, I find it very convenient to use SFTP instead of AFP to  
connect. I recommend Transmit as an SFTP (and FTP) client.

Dale

On Oct 25, 2007, at 8:29 PM, Bob Patin wrote:

> William,
>
> Thanks for the reply; I've had file sharing turned on for years on  
> my FMS machines, without any trouble. The file hasn't been copied  
> while running, either; that's what makes this so strange.
>
> Why did you suggest not having file-sharing turned on? Other than  
> any security concern, what other problem can it cause with FM  
> Server? I've never had any problem before, and this one is  
> certainly odd.
>
> Best,
>
> Bob Patin
> Longterm Solutions
> bob at longtermsolutions.com
> 615-333-6858
> http://www.longtermsolutions.com
> Member of FileMaker Business Alliance and FileMaker TechNet
>
>   CONTACT US VIA INSTANT MESSAGING:
>      AIM or iChat: longterm1954
>      Yahoo: longterm_solutions
>      MSN: tech at longtermsolutions.com
>      ICQ: 159333060
>
> --------------------------
> Contact us for FileMaker hosting for all versions of FileMaker
> PHP • CDML • Full email services • Free DNS hosting • Colocation •  
> Consulting
>
>
> On Oct 25, 2007, at 7:06 PM, William Downs wrote:
>
>> Hi Bob,
>>
>> I had this a few times in FMSA 7 on Mac 10. something -
>>
>> There are two things to check - I am sure that you have already done
>> them though - one is "is the file being copied whilst being hosted" ?
>> and you could also ensure that the said machine does not have file
>> sharing running !
>>
>> Apart from that - I can't think of anything else,
>>
>> Hope that helps to refresh the parts other cups of tea can't reach
>> (sorry, it's late here)
>>
>> Kind Regards,
>>
>> William
>>
>>
>> On 10/26/07, Bob Patin <bob at patin.com> wrote:
>>> I have 4 databases on a server for one of my clients; she called
>>> yesterday to tell me that 2 of her databases are not allowing her to
>>> have full access to the files.
>>>
>>> I looked at the files, and they were read-only, even though they'd
>>> been set up months ago with the proper r/w permissions. The  
>>> server is
>>> a Mac, running 10.4.10 with FMSA 8.0v4.
>>>
>>> So I went onto the server and reset the permissions to fmsadmin with
>>> r/w privileges, and was able to remotely connect and alter the files
>>> last night.
>>>
>>> She called today, and the problem had changed! This morning, she
>>> could write to the files, but didn't have full access; it looked  
>>> like
>>> a data-entry privilege set--no access to accounts, layout,  
>>> scripts, etc.
>>>
>>> I finally replaced them with a set from a week ago... haven't heard
>>> anything since.
>>>
>>> Has anyone heard of a similar occurrence, or had it happen  
>>> personally?
>>>
>>> Bob Patin
>>> Longterm Solutions
>>> bob at longtermsolutions.com
>>> 615-333-6858
>>> http://www.longtermsolutions.com
>>> Member of FileMaker Business Alliance and FileMaker TechNet
>>>
>>>    CONTACT US VIA INSTANT MESSAGING:
>>>       AIM or iChat: longterm1954
>>>       Yahoo: longterm_solutions
>>>       MSN: tech at longtermsolutions.com
>>>       ICQ: 159333060
>>>
>>> --------------------------
>>> Contact us for FileMaker hosting for all versions of FileMaker
>>> PHP • CDML • Full email services • Free DNS hosting • Colocation •
>>> Consulting
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> FX.php_List mailing list
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>>>
>>
>>
>> -- 
>> William Downs
>> Development and Support
>> BD Databases Ltd
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