Standard FM Server Backup

February 6, 200322 yr

I have never used FM server to backup my databases. I currently use Retrospect to backup files nightly. However, I would like to start using Server to backup a few times a day.

My questions:

Will the backup feature cause problems by creating a duplicate of the database files?

Are these files compressed at all?

Will the backup process cause any problems for users currently using the databases?

Thanks.

February 6, 200322 yr

Here is what we do with 5 Filemaker Servers.

We have a specific Filemaker Backup volume, which is only mounted on the Filemaker Server machines. they will then each backup 3 times per day into 3 seperate directories. For simplicity we gave each server a directory and each backup time a directory within it. So one of our servers will backup to FilemakerBackups/FMS/1800.

Then we use Retrospect to backup those and never actually touch the original Filemaker files.

February 21, 200322 yr

I have five backups run per day. One every three hours during the working day to seperate folders, and one at 11 PM that goes onto a removable, then into a fire vault. So for each week day I have a folder that has four folders labeled with the time of the backup. Then I have a single folder on the desktop for the 11p backup that I copy to a zip disk in the morning.

This way I have lots of previous files to go back to which, in the event of trouble, is handy in determining what happened and when.

I used to use FM Server on Mac OS 9.x. With that OS I could disperse the backups to different volumes, and the 11p backup was made directly to the zip. But with FM Server on OS X must make all backups to the same volume the server is running from (something I view as a FM Server bug). I am going to have to learn Apple Script so I can have the Finder move the files to where I want them. But that's ok, I was looking for a good reason to learn Apple Script anyway.

FM Server will let you create the scripts for remote backups on OS X. But don't let this fool you. If you learn the hard way like I did of this FM bug you will cause FM Server to lock up, crash, and corrupt your files!