FMServer and FMP running on the same machine.

[Paolo]

Is it possibile to run both apps on the same machine (mac w/mac os 9) simultaneously ?

Is it possible that FMP opens via host menu the files served by FMS running on the same machine ?

This way I would not need another machine to run night scritps or batch operations.

[Anatoli]

That always reminds me of dialog in Dune:

Many men tried that...

They tried and failed?

No, they tried and died...

[Paolo]

Thank you, I won't waste time doing experiments!

[thebloke]

I have a school set up with FM server 5.5 and Filemaker 5.0 client on the same machine. The client machine runs scripts and and updates the files on the server.

The files are opened using an opener (see other threads) which connects via the hosts connection to the server files (on the same machine)

I had FM server 5.5 and Unlimited 5.5 running in OSX 10.1.x up until we updated to Unlimited 6 and Jaguar (OSX 10.2) earlier in the summer.

Plans are afoot to put FM server 5.5 and Unlimited 6 on an x-serve.

[Paolo]

are you currently using os 9 for your setup ?

[Anatoli]

In theory it will work in some scenarios on Multithreading and preemptive OS, like Windows PRO and Mac X.

But because both are working on the same port 5003, who will answer incoming network request?

FM client or FM server? Both the same IP and the same port.

And do not blame FMI for data corruption one day, when it happens. Cost of decent hardware + OS for FM Server is $500-600. How much cost your data?

[BobWeaver]

I don't think FMP uses port 5003, just FM Server. FMP can use any port.

[Anatoli]

I bet FMP can work only on port 5003. One cannot specify any other port for FM.

[BobWeaver]

No you can't specify a port. FM server always uses 5003, but the client copy of FM Pro seems to use any port. When I was doing my security experiments, I monitored the network traffic and noticed that while the server was always on port 5003, the client was on port 2049 in one instance, and other port numbers at other times. The client was never on port 5003. I believe that the client port number is assigned by the TCPIP driver.

[Anatoli]

IMHO, most application can negotiate communications between ends on various ports like e.g. FTP. The trick is to start on correct port.

Still, you cannot connect 2 FMP's on different ports than 5003.

Only on this port

fmpro-fdal 2399/tcp FileMaker, Inc. - Data Access Layer

fmpro-fdal 2399/udp FileMaker, Inc. - Data Access Layer

can be data exchanged IMHO with ODBC

BTW this is from IANA database:

# <== NOTE Conflict on 2049 !

shilp 2049/tcp

shilp 2049/udp

nfs 2049/tcp Network File System - Sun Microsystems

nfs 2049/udp Network File System - Sun Microsystems

[BobWeaver]

All I'm saying is that as I was monitoring network traffic, I saw that the client FM had initiated a connection using port 2049. It wasn't caused by anything that I did.

Here is the actual connection traffic:

- Client sends UDP broadcast on source port 32771 to destination port 5003 at destination broadcast IP address 255.255.255.255 looking for hosts.

- Server responds on port 5003 with a UDP message to client destination port 32771 at client's IP address with a message identifying it as a FM server and its IP address.

- If there are other servers on the local network they respond with similar UDP messages.

- User selects a host, and the client end then initiates a TCP connection from source port 2049 to destination port 5003.

The TCP connection then uses these two ports for the duration of the user's access to the server.

The client port number appears to be arbitrary, especially for TCP. In another instance it used port 2052.

For UDP, it's possible that it always uses 32771, because FM Server may only listen for UDP messages from that particular port. I would have to check back through all the transaction logs to know for sure.

[ernst]

Normally speaking the network port used by the 'initiator' or 'source' is not important, just like Bob observed.

It's the 'target' or 'destination' port that matters.

The target just replies to the port that the traffic originated from, and does not care at all what number that is.

This the mechanism that NAT routers rely on when tunneling all traffic from a network to the outside world via one IP address. The router changes the initiator or source port to one of an ascending range of ports it keeps in a table together with the internal source IP address.

When the reply from the outside of the network comes back, the router looks op the port number in this table to reconstruct the original internal IP Address and port number.

Boring?

Ernst!

[Anatoli]

It is nice discussion, but going from the original question.

Let's recap what is the problem:

Q. FMServer and FMP running on the same machine?

A. ...who will answer incoming network request? FM client or FM server? Both the same IP and the same port.

and

One cannot specify any other port for FM.

and

...do not blame FMI for data corruption one day, when it happens. Cost of decent hardware + OS for FM Server is $500-600. How much cost your data?

[BobWeaver]

The server will answer any request directed to a Filemaker server because FM server will be the only application using port 5003. The client Filemaker application will be using another port. But, as to how well the client and the server will get along on the same machine, I don't know. It's not a setup that I would recommend. TheBloke says he has done it and it works. I think the biggest risk is that there is very little to prevent the client copy of Filemaker from opening the files directly rather than through the server application.