[FX.php List] Handling heavy loads

Mon Oct 9 22:51:59 MDT 2006

A nightmare...!

First, I have no practical experience optimising for a situation like  
yours. The following is from what I've read on the list and in the  
docs from Filemaker.
So have a look at these docs from Filemaker. Eg. do a search for  
performance or optimisation on their docs and forums...

Ok, some quick thoughts:

1. Get max RAM!

2. Spread the load:
FMSA needs a fast HD above all: get the fastest you can (10K-15K)
Cheap: Western Digital Raptor 10000 rpm in external FireWire  
enclosure (put the DB on that)
Expensive: 15K SCSI disk (Seagate or whatever), add SCSI interface to  
mac hosting FMSA
Disable all superfluous services on this Mac

Move the WPE and webserver to another Mac.
This one needs good processing power (heavy load processing all the  
requests, FX converting all the XML to php arrays etc.)

I know this is short, but it'll get you in he right direction.
One more thing ...(!)
Ask some people who have experience with this. Call some service  
providers who host FM sites for a living and get their  
recommendations. With a little luck, they'll give you some good  
advice for free. Thats what I would do...!

Good luck!

Den 10/10/2006 kl. 2.12 skrev Jonathan Schwartz:

> Hi folks,
>
> Well, I launched ver2 of my School Directory site last Friday with  
> an email blast to 3000 users, requesting they login and update  
> their records.  That's when the fun started.
>
> I got another dose of reality several minutes later when dozens of  
> users signed on simultaneously and the server hit 100% and stayed  
> there until it crashed.  I restarted. It did it again. Then the  
> phone started ringing.  This went on for some time, as I made a  
> mental note to not repeat this episode.
>
> Ultimately, I'd like to ask what path to take to improve my  
> systems. The heavy load situation has never happened before,  
> although this is the first project involving an email blast with an  
> invitation to login and use the system.
>
> From the fx.php side, I already know that implementing that last  
> suggestion I received a week ago to use portals to accumulate data  
> from 4 tables into one screen was my downfall.  It wasn't the  
> suggestion itself, but how I implemented it.  In order to display  
> the summary data needed, the page executes six (6!) fx.php searches  
> to get the required data from related tables.  And to a make things  
> worse, this same summary data was displayed on each of 7 screens as  
> the user progressed through the process until the end, so the  
> searches were repeated for each page. It didn't seem to be a  
> problem when I was developing, but I quickly realized that I should  
> probably be storing the data in the Session and then redisplaying  
> on each page.  If the data was edited, I would summon only the  
> changed portion.  That will be ver3. ;-) The good news is that this  
> system is only live for 10 days and then taken down.
>
> Back to my primary question: hardware.  I am running on a single  
> macmini that is being colo'd at macminicolo.net.  Here are the specs:
>
> Macmini 1.42Ghz
> 512MB RAM
> OEM drive (5400 rpm)
> OS X Server 10.4 6
> FMSA 8.5
>
> I *know* that set up is a poster child for the results I received,  
> but the loads before this point just have not justified more  
> hardware...until now.
>
> Some of my choices:
> 	Replace macmini with Intel, 1-2GB RAM, 7200RPM drive.
> 	Add second mac mini (above) with second IP/split FMSA from the  
> datafiles. Pay 2x hosting $.
> 	Dump the mini. Buy used xserve. Pay about the same as colo-ing 2  
> minis.
> 	Other?
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> Jonathan
>
>
>
> -- 
>
> Jonathan Schwartz
> FileMaker 8 Certified  Developer
> Associate Member, FileMaker Solutions Alliance
> Schwartz & Company
> jonathan at eschwartz.com
> http://www.eschwartz.com
> http://www.exit445.com
> 415-381-1852
>
> _______________________________________________
> FX.php_List mailing list
> FX.php_List at mail.iviking.org
> http://www.iviking.org/mailman/listinfo/fx.php_list

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