Running FileMaker Server

Installing FileMaker Server installs two separate components, both of which run as services: FileMaker Server and the FileMaker Server Helper. These appear as two separate services (Windows) or processes (Mac OS). FileMaker Server does not function correctly without the FileMaker Server Helper service also running. (Installing FileMaker Server Advanced will cause additional services to be added.)

Starting and Stopping FileMaker Server

When you install FileMaker Server, you can choose whether to have these services start automatically (in which case they are started every time the server itself starts up) or manually (in which case you need to start the services by hand). On Windows you can start and stop the services with the tools available in the Services console. On the Mac OS, theres a new option in the SAT that lets you start and stop the FileMaker Server services.

On Mac OS X, there is no tool that corresponds to the Windows Services console. If you chose to have the services start automatically, a directory called /Library/StartupItems/FileMakerServerHelper will be created on the server machine. This directory contains a simple shell script that controls automatic starting of the service on Mac OS X. To see the specific command-line syntax for starting and stopping the server, read the startup script, which is contained in /Library/StartupItems/FileMakerServerHelper/FileMakerServerHelper.

Currently the command to start the FileMaker Server services looks like this:

Library/FileMaker Server/Tools/fmserver_helperd

And the command to stop the services looks like this:

/Library/FileMaker Server/Tools/fmserver_helperd stop

In the event you need to write scripts to start and stop the FileMaker Services on the Mac OS, knowing about the specific paths may be helpful. Otherwise, though, just avail yourself of the new Services Administration Tool in FileMaker Server 8 for the Mac OS: Choose Server, Local FileMaker Server Administration, and youll see a dialog that allows you to selectively start and stop the services. You might need to authenticate as an administrator to start or stop the services.

Hosting Databases

FileMaker Server can host up to 125 FileMaker databases. When the server starts, it looks for files in the default database file directory, and in the alternate database directory if one has been specified. (We discuss how to specify the alternate directory later.) It also tries to open any databases found in the first directory level within either of those two top-level directories. Databases in more deeply nested directories are not opened. The main database directory can be found at Program FilesFileMakerFileMaker ServerDataDatabases (Windows) and /Library/FileMaker Server/Data/Databases (Mac OS X).

Care should be taken to place these directories on hard drives that are local to the server machine. Its not at all a good idea to host files from a mapped or networked drive. In such a configuration, every database access needs to be translated into a network call and passed across the network. At the very least this approach is likely to cause significant loss of performance.