1.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
www.filemaker-konferenz.com
Is the latest FileMaker Pro and FileMaker Server faster than previous versions?
Can search in an indexed field be really slower than search in an unindexed one?
How can database structure affect speed of performing scripts on server?
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results

2.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
HOnza Koudelka
• Co-founder and co-owner of 24U Software,
FBA Platinum Member
• Developing FileMaker solutions since 1991
• FileMaker 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16
Certified Developer
• Leading team of 5 other certified developers
• Winner of the FileMaker DevCon 2015 Developer Cup
• FileMaker Mad Dog Award 2011 winner
• Mad Optimizer and achiever of the impossible…
• Vendor session speaker at FileMaker DevCon, spoke at Pause[x]London and
Pause[x]Berlin, and remotely at PauseOnError Portland
• FileMaker Konferenz 2016 speaker

3.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
What does FAST look like?

4.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
What does FAST look like?

5.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Fast
/fast/
adjective
1. moving or capable of moving at high speed
“a fast and powerful car”
adverb
1. at high speed
“he was driving too fast”
2. so as to be hard to move: firmly or securely
“the ship was held fast by the anchor chain”
schnell
fest

6.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Two perspectives
• Technical speed makes things possible
• Perceived speed defines what’s important

7.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
What’s schnell enough?
• Amazon discovered that for every one second delay,
conversions dropped by 7 %
• Walmart found that it gains 1 % revenue increase for
every 100 ms of improvement
• HubSpot considers the ideal page load speed for your
website's HTML to be less than 1.5 seconds
• Blink of an eye takes between 300 and 400 ms

8.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Test Equipment
• Mac Pro (early 2008)
• 2 x 2,8 GHz Intel Xeon
• 8 GB RAM
• Separate hard drive for data
• Mac OS X 10.11.6 El Capitan
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• MacBook Pro 15” mid 2012 as client for WAN
testing
• VDSL 20Mbps/2Mbps for WAN testing
• FileMaker Server versions 14, 15, 16
• FileMaker Pro Advanced 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

9.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Test Solution
• Updated WhatIsFaster.fmp12 originally
created for FileMaker DevCon 2013
• Automated test scripts running at least
three times with the same test data
• Unattended computer with disabled
screensaver and energy saver
• Perform Script On Server for server
performance testing
• Random generated data o different types
and sizes (except for containers)
• Random substrings from a 297840
characters long “Lorem Ipsum” test text

10.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
• Export & Import Records as tab delimited text
• Creating records with a lot of text
• Sort Records by indexed/unindexed field
• Perform Find
• indexed vs unindexed field
• small vs large result found set
• number vs text
• unique vs common values
• Position vs PatternCount
• Replace Field Contents vs Looped Set Field
• Summary fields vs Aggregate functions vs ExecuteSQL
• Delete All Records, Truncate Table, Delete All Found Records (leaving one record)
• Popup vs Dropdown rendering
• Real clients upgrading to FileMaker 15
• Perform Script on Server with Spider vs Anchor/Buoy vs Selector-Connector
What was tested
38 855
tests
(4385 last year)

11.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
What was NOT tested YET
• Multiple users
• Multiple concurrent tasks
• Working with container fields
• Exact amounts of data transferred between client and server
• FileMaker Go
• FileMaker WebDirect
• FileMaker Cloud
• XML / PHP / ODBC / JDBC connections
• Two-machine deployment
• FileMaker Server with enabled SSL
• Server-side schedules, including backup schedules
• Different cache sizes and other configuration differences

12.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Which Pro Advanced is the fastest?
12 13 14 15 16

13.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Exporting Records

14.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Importing Records

15.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Creating records with a lot of text

16.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Sorting Records

17.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Performing Find in a simple table

18.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Performing Find in a table with long text

19.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Deleting records

20.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Deleting records
Both client & server 15+

21.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Batch-modifying records

22.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Batch-modifying records

23.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Beware Base64
• Real experience from a customer
• Huge containers can be stored as text
• Doing so can have fatal impact on performance

24.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Which Server?
14 15 16

25.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Real client going from FMS13 to FMS15
216 records 237 records
985 records

26.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Client or Server?

27.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Batch-modifying records

28.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
FMSE shares resources with FMS

29.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
When to use Perform Script on Server?

30.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
FMSE utilizes direct sockets

31.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
FMSE shares resources with FMS
Indexed Unindexed

32.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
FMSE shares resources with FMS
Indexed Unindexed

33.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Indexed vs Unindexed

34.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Sort Records
1 of 100 Unique

35.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Perform Find

36.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Spider vs Anchor/Buoy vs Selector-Connector
nav_code
NAV_selecte
PREFS_org
account_nam
PREFS_user
gTaskCont
GLOBALS_to
context
TASKS
EVT_sessions_to_session_signup
g_Registrant_relationship_code
NRRTS_PREFS_registrant_code
fk_party_ID
NRRTS_people_registrant_link
AS_parent_organizations
AS_branch_organizations
AS_employees
g_nav_code_
g_current_ac
NAV_navigat
AS_address_SHIP
AS_address_PUBLISH
AS_address_RENEW
ethics
DMERC_assignments
NRRTS_PREFS
pk_party_ID
NRRTS_parties_by_registrant_link
fk_party_ID
fk_tag_ID
PUB_tag_link_ad
g_marketing_relatio…
PUB_prefs_advertis…
pk_party_ID
PUB_advertiser_parties
AS_organizations
fk_party_ID
PUB_advertiser_orgs
fk_party_ID
QUICKFIND_people_DMERC_display
pk_tag_ID
QUICKFIND_relationship_tags_display
pk_party_ID
QUICKFIND_parties_ADVERTISERS_display
GLOBALS_to_parties
AS_parties_receive_ad_invoice
AS_SSNs
AS_CCARDS
PUB_publications
GLOBALS_to_people
globals
FORMS_globa
signatures_to_form_globals
DISP_email_primary
DISP_people_self_by_global
globals_to_people_name_filter
EVT_events EVT_fees
EVT_sessions_to_events
AS_parties_subordinates
FON_apps_complimentary
fon_parties_complimentary
AS_voice_subordinates
FON_ledger_to_enrollment
PUB_ledger_expense
PUB_ledger_all
PUB_ad_rates
PUB_ledger_income
TAGS
GLOBALS_to_event_session_signup
AS_people
PUB_comm_outgoing_PUSH
AS_address_PHYSICAL
FON_enrollment
fk_event_ID
fk_party_ID
pk_registration_ID
gUnique_key
EVT_attendance
AS_parties_parent
FON_comm_outgoing_PUSH
EVT_comm_outgoing_PUSH
EVT_session_signup_to_attendance
EVT_session_comm_outgoin…
CECs
NRRTS_Credentialing
NRRTS_crts_history
AS_parties_selfjoin
AS_address_ALL
AS_address_FILTERED
AS_address_MAIL
PUB_parties_invoice_recipient
PUB_parties_ad_representative
AS_email_ALL
AS_email_PUBLISH
AS_email_primary
AS_phones_ALL
AS_phones_office_voice
AS_phones_office_fax
AS_phones_home_fax
AS_phone_voice_publish
AS_phones_fax_publish
AS_phone_tollfree_publish
COMMUNICATIONS_outgoing
AS_comm_outgoing_PUSH
CODE128E
TAG_LINKS_to_parties
fk_party_ID
fk_tag_ID
NRRTS_tag_link_registrant
FON_apps
NRRTS_comm_outgoing_PUSH
CEC_to_nrrts_apps_by_lookback_date
GLOBALS_to_nrrts_apps_by_renew_date
CEC_to_nrrts_apps_by_RESNA_effectiv…
NRRTS_parties_DMERC
NRRTS_ledger_to_apps
NRRTS_apps_self
NRRTS_app_recommend
CEC_to_nrrts_apps_by_app_ID
NRRTS_affiliations_to_current_app
fk_registry_affiliation_ID
is_current
NRRTS_apps_CURRENT
signature_graphics
NRRTS_apps
fk_registry_affiliation_ID
reg_period_begin_date
reg_period_end_date
NRRTS_apps_by_date_range
fk_party_ID
pk_nrrts_registry_ID
constant
cCurrentDate
NRRTS_affiliations
fk_registry_affiliation_ID
is_complete
nrrts_apps_COMPLETE
AS_address_RESIDENCE
DMERC_people
fk_3rd_party_adv_inv…
fk_parent_party_ID
pk_party_ID
gLocation_display_key
gUnique_key
constant
creator
database_status
fk_3rd_party_adv_inv…
fk_parent_party_ID
location_valueListBuil…
member_code_OLD
modifier
AS_parties
globals_to_letter_templates_CROSS
DMERC_region_link
AS_address_OFFICE
PUB_advertising
letter_templates
fSignup_attend_ADDRESS_mail
pk_party_ID
constant
fPARTY
fAttend_ADDRESS_office
CODE128E
fAttend_PERSON
fAttend_PARTY
fAttend_EVENTS
EVT_sessions_to_events
EVT_fees
fSignup_attend_PARTY
fSignup_attend_EVENT
fSignup_attend_EMAIL
fSignup_attend_PERSON
fSignup_attend_PHONE_office
fSignup_attend_PHONE_fax
fSignup_ATTEND
fSignup_SESSIONS
fRegistry_ADDRESS_mail
fRegistry_NRRTSAPP fRegistry_nrrtsapp_PARTY_dmerc
fRegistry_PERSON
fNrrtsapp_EMAIL_primary
fk_DMERC_ID
fk_party_ID
fk_registry_affiliatio…
pk_app_ID
is_current
reg_period_begin_d…
reg_period_end_date
constant
cApp_deadline_date
cLookback_date
fNRRTSAPP
fk_party_ID
pk_nrrts_registry_ID
constant
fREGISTRY
fParty_PERSON
fParty_ORG
fParty_PHONE_office_voice
fParty_PHONE_voice_publish
fParty_PHONE_office_fax
fParty_PHONE_fax_publish
fParty_PHONE_home_fax
fParty_EMAIL_primary
fParty_EMAIL_publish
fParty_ADDRESS_publish
fParty_ADDRESS_renew
fParty_ADDRESS_mail
fParty_ADDRESS_ship
fComm_PARTY
fComm_PERSON
fComm_ADDRESS_mail
fComm_PHONE_office_fax
fComm_PHONE_home_fax
fFon_PARTY
fFon_SELF_primary_comp
fFon_SELF_comp
fFon_party_PHONE_voice_publish
fFon_party_EMAIL_publish
fFon_party_ADDRESS_mail
fFon_party_ADDRESS_publish
fFon_party_PHONE_fax_publish
fFon_PERSON
fFon_fon_primary_comp_PARTY
fFon_fon_comp_PARTY
fFon_fon_primary_comp_A
fFon_fon_primary_comp_P
fNrrtsapp_PHONE_officeFax
fNrrtsapp_ADDRESS_mail
fNrrtsapp_ADDRESS_renew
fNrrtsapp_PERSON
fNrrtsapp_TAGLINK_dmerc fNnrrtsapp_PEOPLE_dmerc
fNrrtsapp_REGISTRY
fNrrtsapp_RECOMMEND
fRegistry_PARTY
fNrrtsapp_PARTY
fk_party_ID
pk_fon_affiliation_ID
fFON
fNrrtsapp_CEC_AppID
fNrrtsapp_CEC_renewalDate
fNrrtsapp_CEC_lookbackDate
Enclosure
fk_party_ID
fCOMM
fk_event_ID
fk_party_ID
pk_registration_ID
constant
fATTEND
fNrrtsapp_SELF
fk_registration_ID
fk_session_ID
fSIGNUP
fComm_NRRTSAPP

37.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Under the Hood: Opening a File
• Seven-step opening process
• Step 3: Create or reuse temp file (no reuse for Perform Script On Server)
• Step 5: DBEngine processing
• List of tables
• Relationships
• Master map of all table occurrences
• Step 6: FMEngine processing
• Window
• Layout, Value lists, Font mappings, Custom menus
• Script triggers

38.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Why is this important?
• User opens database only once or twice per day
• Every CWP session opens a file
• Every server-side script creates a new client session
• Every Perform Script On Server creates a new client session
• Perform Script On Server can be run asynchronously (without waiting)
• One user can start multiple server-side scripts within a single second
1 second to start a script = TOO SLOW
How long does your solution take to open?

39.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Real solution test

40.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Conversion to Anchor/Buoy
Before:
• 2359 total table occurrences
• 799 table occurrences in largest TOG
• 13 relationships longest path between TOs
After:
• Largest TOG split to 21 smaller TOGs
• 2349 total table occurrences
• 282 table occurrences in largest TOG
• 9 relationships longest path between TOs

41.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
After conversion to Anchor/Buoy

42.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
After adding Selector-Connector

43.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Time to Perform Script on Server
Spider Anchor/Buoy Selector Connector

44.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Under the Hood: Commit Notifications

45.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Notifications are sent…
• from server to client as part of reply to next client’s request
• whenever a change is committed
• to every client having the file open (even hidden)
• about every record (unless entire table is changed)
• in about 32K chunks
• without actual record data

46.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Things to avoid with connected users
• Modifying huge amounts
of records (in open files)
• Changing data in records
containing keys for portals
• Changing relationship
graph (in any file)

47.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
Conclusion(s)
• FileMaker 16 is mostly faster than previous versions
• There are exception (such as holding too long text in a field)
• You never know until you measure it
• PSOS helps mainly with long operations dealing with many records
• The more records you modify the less users you want connected
• More small TOGs is better than one large TOG
• There IS a path from Spider to Anchor/Buoy other than rewrite

48.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Latest FMP/FMS Performance Questions & Test Results | HOnza Koudelka
More resources
• FileMaker Community > Discussions > Performance
• FileMaker DevCon Session Recordings (available on YouTube)
• Performance related sessions
• Under the Hood sessions
• FM Academy & Skeleton Key webinars (FMAcademy.com)
• “Designing for WAN Peformance”
• FileMaker Optimizers LinkedIn Group (FMOptimizers.com)
• 24U FM Bench (FMBench.com)
• Big-O Cheat Sheat (bigocheatsheet.com)
• A Gentle Introduction to Algorithm Complexity Analysis (discrete.gr/complexity/)
• Fell free to ask for consultation at honza@24uSoftware.com or 24usw.com/consult

49.
8. FileMaker Konferenz | Salzburg | 12.-14. Oktober 2017
Vortrag und Sprecher
Vielen Dank unseren Sponsoren