A minor correction: Read caching is a gooooood thing, but write caching is bad! Unless you have an oversized UPS and a really fine tuned server OS.

>WARNING to ALL:
>
>Turning on file caching for a solution has turned out to be a bad thing where the data doesn't get flushed. I thought it was too good to be true.
>
>So, rather than work it out with our very anti-social network admin I'm just going to live with 4 minute updates instead of 20 second ones. And I'm not kidding. It's just not worth it.
>
>>Tracy,
>>
>>I wish we had you as our Novell admin.
>>
>>The problem has been solved and I find the solution difficult to believe. The admin turned on file caching at the server and on the client. Beats me.
>>
>>>Your network admin, while he/she may be grouchy, should immediately recognize the settings listed. If not, time for a new network admin! Seriously. I worked as a network manager for years on Novell and those settings are pretty basic and easy to find. Any network administrator should have no problem verifying them. Also, make sure that (as others posted) you exclude the data directory (and all known file extensions) for your data from any virus scanning that may be running on the workstation and/or the server. Assuming you are using VFP tables in your app that are stored on your Novell server?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Thanks Tracy.
>>>>
>>>>I don't understand most of that stuff, so it's off to the network admin who is often less than helpful and is always grouchy. I'm pretty much resigned that this won't get resolved and it will be something we have to live with forever. I just wish we were on Windows servers.
>>>>
>>>>I used to be a big fan of Novell (circa 1988 - 1994) and now I just want Windows.
>>>>
>>>>>Some are client and some are server. They are included in all versions of the Novell Client at or above 4.71. If this does not make sense to you, then pass the information on to your network adminstrator. Have you installed all of the fixes for version 4.91? There are a LOT:
>>>>>
>>>>>http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10097911.htm
>>>>>http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?2971589.htm
>>>>>http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?2971942.htm
>>>>>http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?2971949.htm
>>>>>http://support.novell.com/cgi-bin/search/searchtid.cgi?10094106.htm
>>>>>
>>>>>I didn't find them all. You need to search novell for all post 4.91 updates/fixes.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Thanks Tracy.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Unfortunately, most of those client (I assume they are client) settings are not available in our version of the Novell client (Novell Client for Windows 4.91 SP2). Are those Server settings? I'm not a network ops so I don't have access to the Server. Still, I need to help the network guy work through this or it won't get fixed.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Start with:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Message #1154759
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>We are running the latest version of Novell fileservers and we are finding that if we do not open the VFP DBFs exclusively update (append from, etc.) performance is very slow by a factor of 10.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>For example:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>use foobar shared &&100k records and has indexes
>>>>>>>>update foobar set lname = 'slow'
>>>>>>>>*Takes 4 minutes on Novell
>>>>>>>>*Takes 15 seconds or so on Windows Server
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>use foobar exclusive &&100k records
>>>>>>>>update foobar set lname = 'slow'
>>>>>>>>*Takes 15 seconds on Novell
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Same is true for append from. Replace statement is faster than update in all cases due to different locking going on.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Are there any Novell settings on the server to fix this? It's absolutely unacceptable.