Here is the scenario:
We currently have one FM database that is running on FM 5.5 Server. We need
to split out some of the data for security reasons. We are putting the
separated out data on another 5.5 server. The question is, can we have both
databases open simultaneously? The thing that slightly complicates things is
that the file names will be identical (it isn't an option at this point to
change this).

If you have any suggestions or pitfalls to avoid, I would appreciate it
greatly.

Kelly

Kelly Schroeder via DBMonster.com <forum (AT) nospam (DOT) DBMonster.com> wrote:

Yes. Do whatever you can so that those files do NOT have identical
names. Saying changing the name isn't an option is like hiding your
eyes and avoiding the very real fact that Filemaker identifies hosted
files BY NAME, not by path. Even if you have very carefully and in situ
specified every single relationship, calculation dependent on related
field and script using the "Save Relative path" checkbox, Filemaker can
and WILL route users to the wrong file.

You'll be entering, looking for and finding data in the wrong file.
People will insist their work is lost. People who shouldn't have access
to the more secure file *will* see what they shouldn't.

Use the Developer tool to rename that file. It will do 95% of the work
for you, generally all you have to do after the change is hunt down and
alter any hard-coded reference to the file, such as in testing for
DatabaseNames.

Unless you change the filename, you will *not* avoid the pitfalls. You
will suffer them. Just tell the "not an option" folks that they need to
find a different line to draw in the sand. Even if someone says
"Falling is not an option," the law of gravity operates if you step off
the cliff. Same with identically named files available on a single
network.

Heck, I've known of occasions where working on my local machine, it has
reached out to client servers across the internet to open one or more of
their files over WAN, instead of looking right here on my hard drive.
:/ Which is why all my development is now done on a copy of Filemaker
set to a network protocol of "None", or on a computer physically
disconnected from my LAN.

Lynn Allen
--
Allen & Allen Semiotics www.semiotics.com
FSA Associate Filemaker Design & Consulting

Filemaker is really awful about choosing the wrong files. For a while I
had a local copy of our company database on my laptop, which consisted
of about 20 files. When I tried to connect to the live version via the
'Hosts' menu, I would get a random mix of the local and networked
files. This 'feature' has been so annoying to developers that they made
the file references visible in Filemaker 7 (of course the same problem
still exists, but there's more accountability).

The long and short of it is you have two options

1. Rename one set of files.
2. Make sure that the two copies are not connected IN ANY WAY. You want
to have the two copies on completely different networks that can't see
each other to make this work.