>Is client/server beneficial beyond data security issues for few, 8 or less, users? I read something lately that said vfp downloads all of a table's records regarless of the SQL where as client/server does not. Also, is Fast Ethernet much of an advantage over 10 mbs Ethernet in small multi users environments? The hardware and cabling cost is not much more but if its a waste that would be good to know. Thanks
>John

I think you're question here is client/server versus peer to peer networking. I haven't read the article you're referring to, but I believe they are just pointing out the draw backs of peer to peer networking, and not VFP specifically. Some of the other responses seem to indicate that the issues here are VFP specific. Peer to Peer redirects file requests to go over the network. VFP doesn't know that the data is on a file server. If the data were on the local harddisk, then a certain amount of data would be fed from the disk to memory, and cache, etc.. The same is true for a peer to peer file server, except this data goes over network cables, instead of your local IDE or SCSI cable. If you were using client/server the client would send only the request over the network to the server and the server would do all the work and send back the results, which involves much less network traffic. To answer your question, NO, IMHO you don't need client server for 8 users, and YES 100mb will make a difference on a busy network and is worth the current premium (again, IMHO). In fact, with 100mb ethernet, it may be faster to go over the network than to use the local hard drive!

HTH,
Marcus.