This procedure avoid problems when changing IP address of server hosting FM files

1)MacOs X

Open NetInfo Manager (applications-->utilities)

Select "machines"

Click on new and edit name of new folder to for ex. FmServer

double click on property name to edit it to "ip_address" (without quotes)

set the ip_address value to IP number of the host you are using.

Click on new (or select from menu "Directory" New property"

Set the property to "name" and it value to FmServer.

Now edit the FileMaker Hosts file (located in preferences-->Filemaker preferences) and add line

FmServer

(if you don't need any other host you could delete them).

2)MacOS Classic

Create an text file Hosts and drop it into system folder

edit the file Hosts

yourserver.yourdomain.com A <insert here the IP address>

FMServer (or whatever name you would like to use) CNAME yourserver.yourdomain.com

Edit the File Maker Host file as in OS X example

Finally open TCP/IP control pannel

Set user level to advanced or higher

The new button "Specify host file" would appear

Select the hosts file you've created

3)Windows

For windows system the procedure is almost the same:

locate the file hosts (windows/system32/drivers/etc/ on XP for other systems I'm not sure)

add the following line

[insert the real IP address of your host] FmServer

of course the above line should be inserted without brackets

Edit FMHosts.txt as in above

this is a little confusing to me - I have entered a host file entry on my windows client to reflect the IP address and FQDN of the servers hosting the files ...