Filemaker Server 14.0.4 on El Capitan 10.11.6

[ernst]

I had to migrate a Mac OS Mini Server running Mavericks 10.9.5 and Filemaker Server 13 to Filemaker Server 14.0.4 on El Capitan 10.11.6 today.

It turned out to be an unpleasant and tiring operation, so I wrote a little manual that hopefully can help and save time for other people running into this situation.

Some steps my not be necessary, but the following list describes the road I took, stumbling from one problem to the next.

Rest assured that I left out a lot of swearing and three letter words that were also part of the process ;-)

Greetings Ernst

 

Backup your databases, stop and de-install any previous Filemaker Server version. 

The Filemaker 13 de-installer is located in the Extra’s folder on the Filemaker Server 14 installation disk image.

 

Install El Capitan 10.11.6 + updates 

 

Do not install OS X server ( yet ) - see the notes at the end of this little manual.

 

Remove the Java version installed with Mac OS - in my case Java 8 update 111.

Steps from the Oracle website:

In the Terminal window Copy and Paste the commands below:

sudo rm -fr /Library/Internet\ Plug-Ins/JavaAppletPlugin.plugin 

sudo rm -fr /Library/PreferencePanes/JavaControlPanel.prefPane 

sudo rm -fr ~/Library/Application\ Support/Java

 

Install the version required by the 14.0.4 Filemaker Installer: Java 8 update 60 before installing Filemaker.

Installer is called: jre-8u60-macosx-x64.dmg

 

After creating an Oracle account and logging in it can be downloaded from:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/

- Scroll all the way down and click Java Archives

- Click Java SE 8

- Scroll down to Java SE Runtime Environment 8u60

- Click Accept License Agreement

- Download jre-8u60-macosx-x64.dmg

 

The Filemaker installer is supposed to install this Java version by itself, but in my case it appeared to contain the Java 8 update 31, causing a loop within the Filemaker installer, repeating the process of installing the wrong version.

 

Get Filemaker fms_14.0.4.412.dmg. 

Use the full installer!

In my case installing an earlier version and running the updater did not work - the updater to 14.0.4 hung during installation.

Filemaker also advises this but unfortunately chose not to put the full installer on their website, so I had to Phone Filemaker support and supply the original sales contract number. After providing these details they mailed a link to the 14.0.4 full installer.

 

Install fms_14.0.4.412.dmg 

Because I was planning a co-install with OS X Server App I used port 8080 and 8443 in stead of the standard 80 and 443 during the setup.

Also I did not enable web publishing and ODBC/JDBC during installation because I desperately wanted to get the normal services working.

Do not start Deployment when the installer finished but click Quit in the finishing dialog.

 

Next step is to stop the server process via the terminal, as per Filemaker’s instruction: type or paste sudo launchctl stop com.filemaker.fms in a terminal window, enter and administrator password when required.

In my case I had to restart the Mac and do this last step again after a fresh restart, before the FileMaker Server 14.0.4b Software Patch wanted to run without complaining about the Server being running.

 

Run the FileMaker Server 14.0.4b Software Patch from http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/15575

Note that this installer will update your Java version to Java 8 update 66, in my case this went without any hiccups.

Log in to the Admin console using the FMS 14 Admin Console.webloc shortcut placed on the Desktop by the installer.

Alternatively point your browser to http://localhost:16001 and click Start Admin Console

 

About co-installing with OS X Server version 5.2

I know the true purist warn against this; in this case the server is under a relatively light load, so performance does not seem to be an issue.

Getting OS X Server to co-exist with FM Server proofed tricky though. 

Initially I had OS X Server app installed before trying the last FileMaker Server 14.0.4b Software Patch which caused the installer to hang again. 

So I had to command-drag to move the Server App from the Applications folder to the Desktop. After authenticating the Mac detects the removal and presumably stops and repatches all services involved.

Then the FileMaker Server 14.0.4b Software Patch installed, after which I could put the OS X Server app back, re-login to server, re-enable the services, restart the Mac and finally login to the Filemaker Admin console.

 

Next time I would leave the OS X Server installation as last step; possibly this will be less work.

 

Edited December 28, 2016 by ernst
typo

[johnBuckingham]

Ernst. Thank you so much for posting the walkthrough. I had an issue with FMS14 today and waited till after hours to re-install, only to get into the Java Death Spiral. So your instructions were well useful. FWIW: I didn't have the 14.0.4 full installer and so I used the 14.0.3 installer then the updater without any problems. Again, thank you for your generosity. John Buckingham, Inverness, UK