My situation is kind of particular. Years ago I administered a dozen databases on a local install of FMS (around FMP13). These days, at a different workspace, I do different work and only maintain a couple of local databases on an FMS install that, for security reasons, has no public face (i.e. no browser interface).

I'd like to see how stuff "looks and feels" in a browser and on iOS, for several reasons: 1) I'm curious  2) Maybe I'll have an idea to bring to the current job 3) Maybe I'll have an idea for a product of my own.

None of those is compelling enough for me to ask the current job to change their security protocols (at this time), but none of them justifies either a $100 / mo. outlay for FM Cloud.

Are there any suggestions for this? I am not looking for solutions involving piracy; I'm just wondering, for example, if FileMaker has introduced, while I've been sort of away, a way for me to run WebDirect on my local subnet, or for my iPhone to sideload a db I'm hosting on a MacBook Pro.

Go for the FileMaker Developer Subscription. For $99 you get a license for FileMaker Server, which you can run on your local machine and you can then access those hosted files from the same machine via WebDirect or FileMaker client, which is also included.

Thanks! Obviously the solution for me. 

Currently Free

https://www.claris.com/blog/2020/learn-new-skills-with-free-access-to-claris-filemaker

Well, I wouldn't have minded knowing about that before I dropped the hundred bucks this morning!

Oh, well. Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you.

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I came back here to ask a question, though. I'm experiencing one strange behavior of my newly installed hundred-dollar FMServer setup, and I don't know if it's one of the ways that the product is intentionally hobbled to preclude my using it for live production (in which case, fine) or if it's a networking flaw that I want to clear up before I start using this setup for testing.

The backbone's running fine. I have FMS hosting sample files on my headless Win10 machine, and I can access the files fron other machines on the LAN in FMP, and from my iPhone in FMGo.

In a browser window on that host machine, everything renders well via a self-assigned address (127.0.0.1), and everythiing also renders fine at the address localhost:16001. But I can't get the interface to function at the machine's actual local address (192.168.1.x). And similarly, I can't get it to load on my main machine, a laptop, using the host's address.

On the host machine, I have two other services (UniFi & Subsonic) that I can administer through GUI interfaces at the IP address, so I know the machine and the browser are allowing traffic.

Is this an intentional peculiarity of this "flavor" of FMS to make sure that I won't go make stuff on the cheap? I know that I'm limited to three users, but didn't see mention of this in a first look.

You're limited to 3 connections.

Also the free copy is intended for students and workers displaced by the pandemic.

a fully setup FMS requires a FQDN and and SSL certificate in order to access the database properly.

Sorry, I overwrote.

 

FMS won’t appear when the hosts IP address is in the browser bar - only when a local variant (like ‘localhost’) is. And the admin console won’t render in the browser of another laptop on the LAN.

 

Is this an intentional feature of the Developer package, or is FMS malfunctioning on my network?

Could be a ports issue:

https://fmhelp.filemaker.com/help/18/fms/en/index.html#page/FMS_Help/fms-ports.html