Installing & Configuring FileMaker Server

Installing FMS 

Once you have a 'clean' server, you are ready to begin the actual installation. (For additional details, review the FileMaker support documentation.)

Before starting the installation process, place your “LicenseCert.fmcert” file in the server’s Downloads folder. This file will be used to enter your installation credentials.

1. Start the FMS installation and continue through the initial screens.
   Note: If the system requests for the Installer to access your Downloads folder, click OK.
2. On the Deployment Options screen, select FileMaker Server master.
3. On the User Account screen, specify the correct account:
   • Mac — Select the radial button for fmserver.
   • PC — Select the radial button for Local System.
     Note: If your implementation requires a different account, please note why and send that information to aACE Software.
4. On the Customer Information screen, enter the Organization Name corresponding to your FMS license key.
5. On the Admin Console Account screen, enter the Admin Console credentials as follows (unless you have made different arrangements with aACE Software or your FileMaker developer):
   1. User Name: "Administrator"
   2. Password: Use this password generation site to create a password from these settings:
      • Change "Random Password" to "Memorable Password"
      • Length: 3
      • Capitalize: Checkbox cleared
      • Full Words: Checkbox cleared
   3. PIN: Any 4-digit number
      Note: We recommend basing the PIN on the installation date (e.g. October 2022 as “1022”).
   4. To facilitate support, document these credentials and send them to aACE Software or your FileMaker developer before proceeding.
6. On the Installation Type screen, click Install, and complete the installation.

Additional Tasks for PC

• Port Errors — In some cases, you may receive an error indicating that ports 50003 and 50004 are in use. If you receive this error, please deactivate IPv6 and try again.
• Bonjour — If you are prompted to install the device location service Bonjour, click Yes. 

FileMaker Server Folder

Note the location of the FileMaker Server folder created during the installation. It will be referenced multiple times throughout the remainder of this process.

• Mac — Macintosh HD/Library/FileMaker Server/
• PC — C:/Program Files/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/

Configuring FMS 

After the installation, you will be prompted to launch the FMS Admin Console. 

If the Admin Console does not open, you can launch it manually by navigating in a browser to:
https://[server_address]:443/admin-console. 

Note: If the Admin Console still doesn't open, see the FileMaker guide on accessing the Server Admin Console.

1. At the Admin Console login page, create a browser bookmark in the Favorites list with the name “FMS Admin Console”.
2. Log into the Admin Console using the credentials you set up during the installation (see above).
3. The console prompts you to install an SSL certificate.
   • If you are upgrading from FMS 18 and have a previously installed SSL certificate, you can re-install those certificate files at this point.
   • If you don't have SSL certificate files on hand, select Use the Claris default certificate and click that you understand the risk. (You will set up SSL in a later step.)
4. In the Admin Console, configure these settings: 
   1. Navigate to Configuration > General Settings and change the Server Name. We recommend using "aACE Server" or the fully-qualified domain name to the server computer.
   2. Navigate to Connectors > Web Publishing and enable Master Machine.
      Note: Upon enabling Master Machine, you may be prompted to install a Java Runtime Environment:
      1. Click the radio button for Use OpenJDK, then click OK.
      2. Follow the in-dialog instructions for downloading and installing OpenJDK.
         Mac Note: The .tar.gz file must be imported as-is. Before downloading the .tar.gz file, you may need to update your Safari preferences to prevent the browser from automatically unarchiving the file — Navigate to Safari > Preferences > General, then clear the flag to 'Open "safe" files after downloading'.
   3. Navigate to Connectors > FileMaker Data API and enable FileMaker Data API.
   4. Navigate to Connectors > Plug-Ins, and in the Server Plug-ins section enable these two options:
      • FileMaker Script Engine Plug-ins
      • Install Plug-in File Script Step
        Note: This option displays after enabling the first.
   5. Remove the default Sample database from the Admin Console:
      1. Navigate to Databases.
      2. At the database named FMServer_Sample, click the drop-down arrow next to the file name and select Close. 
      3. When the indicator turns gray (), click the drop-down arrow again and select Remove, then click OK.
   6. Remove the Sample database folder from the server:
      1. Navigate to Configuration > General Settings, then click the link to Stop Database Server.
      2. At the message dialog, click Stop Database Sever.
      3. In Finder / Explorer, navigate to FileMaker Server/Data/Databases.
      4. Manually delete the Sample folder.
      5. At the browser view of the Admin Console, click Start Database Server.

Disabling Spotlight Indexing (Mac Only)

Mac servers have a scheduled file indexing feature enabled by default. This feature checks files at regular intervals for use in Apple's Spotlight search feature. This has proven to have a negative impact on performance on some servers, especially those hosting larger aACE systems or supporting more simultaneous aACE users. 

We recommend that you disable Spotlight indexing on your server to prevent these potential drops in performance:

1. Launch the Terminal application.
2. Enter this command:
   

   sudo mdutil -a -i off

3. At the prompt, enter your workstation administrator credentials.