[FX.php List] optimizing FMS7A sort performance?

[Michael McIntyre]

I'm looking for techniques/advice/workarounds to improve the slow sort 
performance in FMS7.02 Advanced.

	[Server HW: Dual 2Ghz G5 Xserve, 1GB RAM, OS Server 10.3.6]
	[workstation HW: Dual 2Ghz G5 Powermac, 1.5GB RAM, OS 10.3.6]

With a 1 table db of ~2K records, ~200 fields, sorting all records on a 
single indexed date, serialNumber, or text field seems to have an order 
of magnitude difference as follows:

  <  1s (db on workstation HDD open with FMP7.03, first sort, good)
  > 10s (db on FMS7, remote opened on workstation with FMP7.03, first 
sort, BAD)
  <  1s (db on FMS7, remote opened on workstation with FMP7.03, 
subsequent sort)
  > 10s (db on FMS7, web display with same sort parameter passed via 
FX.php, EVERY sort, BAD)

How does this compare with others' experience with FMS7A, both 
server-client and server-web?

I don't know how FM technically does its sorts but it appears that 
performing a sort also sets up an index to speed subsequent sorts in 
the same client 'session'. However FX.php calls to FMS7A are perhaps 
each unique thus have no such index to work with, yes?

Needless to say the 10s sort time for this particular FX.php query 
(browsing entire db) is prohibitively slow.

-michael