>Hi..
>Are you saying taht by simply addint memory my VFP
>application will run faster? Or are you saying this about
>Client Server applications in general?
>
>For example on an NT system if there are a folder of DBF files
>having 1 GB memory will allow me to cache my tables...
>IS this handled automatically or is there something special I need to do...

Most modern OSs, including Windows NT, will use RAM not allocated to running programs as disk cache. This cache typically ensures that copies of the MOST RECENTLY USED FILES are written to the cache RAM, where they can be accessed rapidly.

To get an idea of how much RAM might be useful:

1. Add up RAM used by applications on the server. Many NT Server boxes are running more than just the base file and print services; they may also be running Exchange Server, Proxy Server, etc. If you are unsure, you can probably assume 128 MB unless the server is running a LOT of apps or one or more resource hogs like SQL Server.

2. Add up the size of your app's files - databases, tables and associated .CDX, .FPT files etc.

3. Add up the size of files typically open at any given time by people using other applications.

Suppose that your app's files total 100 MB. Other files open at the same time, by other applications, add up to another 100 MB. Add to that the 128 MB needed by NT Server and its server-based apps, totals 328 MB. You could try installing 384 MB RAM, or if the server won't support that, go to 512 MB.

With a large enough disk cache, your tables will be accessed from server RAM at RAM access speed, rather than from disk at disk access speed (several orders of magnitude faster). You need to make sure that "lazy writes" on the server are enabled (typically the default) and that the server is backed up with an adequate uninterruptible power supply (UPS).

If you already have enough RAM in the server and the app still seems slow, you could try upgrading to a faster network e.g. 100BASE-T.