Administrator’s Guide

Appendix B
Performance and usage tips
Performance tips
If you find that FileMaker Server is sluggish when performing
certain operations, try the following:
1 Run FileMaker Server on a dedicated computer.
1 Use as fast a computer and network as possible.
1 Always use remote administration to perform administrative tasks
on hosted files, such as sending messages to connected guests.
1 Reduce the number of guests able to access FileMaker Server. (See
“Setting the number of guests” on page 4-3.)
1 Reduce the maximum number of files that can be hosted by
FileMaker Server. (See “Setting the maximum number of files” on
page 4-4.)
1 Monitor the cache hit percentage in usage statistics. You can view real-
time usage statistics using the Performance Monitor (Windows NT),
Performance console (Windows 2000), or the Usage Statistics window
(Mac OS or remote administration).
The value for Cache Hits is the percentage of times FileMaker Pro
retrieves data from the cache (RAM) rather than the hard disk.
Reading data from RAM is much more efficient than reading it from
the hard disk, so this value should be a high number, like 90 or 95. If
it isn’t, you might need to allocate more memory to
FileMaker Server.
FileMaker Server tracks three values for Cache Hits: Current, Average,
and Peak. It’s best to monitor the Current value periodically, as an
average value can be skewed by running even one data-intensive
report on a hosted database.
1 Monitor the percentage of unsaved cache in usage statistics. This
value indicates how much data could potentially be lost if your server
computer shut down unexpectedly before writing data stored in
cache to the hard disk.
The percentage reported is the portion unsaved in the total cache. For
example, if the cache is set to 2 MB and the Cache Unsaved % value
is 50, you would lose 1 MB of data should your computer fail
unexpectedly.
If the Cache Unsaved % value is consistently high, increase the
frequency with which the cache is flushed, or schedule backups that
occur more often. For more information about changing cache flush
frequency, see “Setting how often the cache is flushed” on page 4-5.
1 Don’t collect statistical information too frequently. FileMaker, Inc.
recommends setting the collection rate no lower than 15 seconds. For
more information, see “Recording usage statistics and
setting size limits” on page 4-9.
1 Perform calculation-intensive operations on a small found set.
Sorting, replacing data, viewing and printing summary report
layouts, and other calculation-intensive operations performed on
many database records affect the overall performance of
FileMaker Server for connected guests. Try to perform these types of
operations on a smaller found set of only the records you’re
interested in. (See the FileMaker Pro 5 User’s Guide for more
information about using found sets.) In addition, it’s best to schedule
these types of operations to be performed during low usage periods.