question about limitations etc over vpn?

I am considering helping/consulting a small oilfield company to have a
"specific to their operation" VFP program developed that will allow them to
enter information about maintenance details on Pumps and Compressors etc,
and have it create automated Work orders etc.
They have looked at several canned programs, but all offer way more than
what they want.
The question is, if it is written in fox pro, will it easily handle say 2 to
25 users simultaneously using it, and even more important is that not all
users are in the same building.
Their company is connected via ADSL.
Right now this ADSL connection affords them the connectivity to use their
existing business system, so the connectivity I know is good.
Feedback greatly appreciated.
As well, if there are any experienced developers (that can allocate the
time) that are interested in a project as such.
Dan

Dan
Tue May 10 10:56:09 CDT 2005

25 users is a trivial workload for VFP.

However, DO NOT try to run the VFP executable on a workstation with the data
stored at the other end of a VPN connection no matter how fast the
connection. Performance will be unacceptable.

Rather, investigate using VNC or Terminal Services.

Dan

Dan Williams wrote:
> I am considering helping/consulting a small oilfield company to have a
> "specific to their operation" VFP program developed that will allow
> them to enter information about maintenance details on Pumps and
> Compressors etc, and have it create automated Work orders etc.
> They have looked at several canned programs, but all offer way more
> than what they want.
> The question is, if it is written in fox pro, will it easily handle
> say 2 to 25 users simultaneously using it, and even more important is
> that not all users are in the same building.
> Their company is connected via ADSL.
> Right now this ADSL connection affords them the connectivity to use
> their existing business system, so the connectivity I know is good.
> Feedback greatly appreciated.
> As well, if there are any experienced developers (that can allocate
> the time) that are interested in a project as such.
> Dan

Paul
Tue May 10 11:04:48 CDT 2005

25 users is not a problem, especially if the connectivity is good. I haven't
had multiple users of FoxPro data on a WAN, but I can't think of a reason
why it shouldn't work reliably, especially if error trapping is used. You
could also use a client-server model for more robustness.

Custom software is usually much more useful than off-the-shelf software to
companies, but tends to be more expensive as well.

I might be able to help out on this. You can write to me at the address
below.


paul

at

prpconsulting dot com




"Dan Williams" <danATwillcraft.com> wrote in message
news:1181j0ql1ud1017@news.supernews.com...
>I am considering helping/consulting a small oilfield company to have a
>"specific to their operation" VFP program developed that will allow them to
>enter information about maintenance details on Pumps and Compressors etc,
>and have it create automated Work orders etc.
> They have looked at several canned programs, but all offer way more than
> what they want.
> The question is, if it is written in fox pro, will it easily handle say 2
> to 25 users simultaneously using it, and even more important is that not
> all users are in the same building.
> Their company is connected via ADSL.
> Right now this ADSL connection affords them the connectivity to use their
> existing business system, so the connectivity I know is good.
> Feedback greatly appreciated.
> As well, if there are any experienced developers (that can allocate the
> time) that are interested in a project as such.
> Dan
>

Anders
Tue May 10 12:24:56 CDT 2005

As they already seem to have a Client/server? business system, you could add
your database to the same server and write the VFP application to handle it.
Even MSDE, which is free, might do very well as backend.
If you are going with a VFP database, Terminal Server would be a good option
for the slower ends. It reduces network activitiy to passing a screen image.
The app runs on the server, not the client, right next to the data store.
-Anders

"Dan Williams" <danATwillcraft.com> wrote in message
news:1181j0ql1ud1017@news.supernews.com...
> I am considering helping/consulting a small oilfield company to have a
> "specific to their operation" VFP program developed that will allow them
to
> enter information about maintenance details on Pumps and Compressors etc,
> and have it create automated Work orders etc.
> They have looked at several canned programs, but all offer way more than
> what they want.
> The question is, if it is written in fox pro, will it easily handle say 2
to
> 25 users simultaneously using it, and even more important is that not all
> users are in the same building.
> Their company is connected via ADSL.
> Right now this ADSL connection affords them the connectivity to use their
> existing business system, so the connectivity I know is good.
> Feedback greatly appreciated.
> As well, if there are any experienced developers (that can allocate the
> time) that are interested in a project as such.
> Dan
>
>

Neil
Tue May 10 16:13:40 CDT 2005

I agree with Dan on performance issues connecting to remote data via a VPN.
Another option is to connect to a VPN, then connect "locally" to a TS
session. i.e. connect via the VPN, then connect "locally" to the TS server.
This gives you the security of the VPN and most of the speed of TS.

Regards,
Neil

"Dan Freeman" <spam@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:#CafJjXVFHA.2172@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> 25 users is a trivial workload for VFP.
>
> However, DO NOT try to run the VFP executable on a workstation with the
data
> stored at the other end of a VPN connection no matter how fast the
> connection. Performance will be unacceptable.
>
> Rather, investigate using VNC or Terminal Services.
>
> Dan
>
> Dan Williams wrote:
> > I am considering helping/consulting a small oilfield company to have a
> > "specific to their operation" VFP program developed that will allow
> > them to enter information about maintenance details on Pumps and
> > Compressors etc, and have it create automated Work orders etc.
> > They have looked at several canned programs, but all offer way more
> > than what they want.
> > The question is, if it is written in fox pro, will it easily handle
> > say 2 to 25 users simultaneously using it, and even more important is
> > that not all users are in the same building.
> > Their company is connected via ADSL.
> > Right now this ADSL connection affords them the connectivity to use
> > their existing business system, so the connectivity I know is good.
> > Feedback greatly appreciated.
> > As well, if there are any experienced developers (that can allocate
> > the time) that are interested in a project as such.
> > Dan
>
>