FMU newbie question...

[stardust]

Hi! Have you ever done so much research into an issue that you end up more confused at the end? Well, that's where I'm at right now.

I'm about to attempt my first go into publishing a couple of db's on my XServer with FMU 6. Now I know I'm supposed to host my files on one machine and publish on another.

I'm currently running FM 5.5 on my iMac at the moment, and haven't loaded FMU 6 just yet.

Point of confusion: If I load FMU 6 on my iMac and publish the db to my XServer, then I should have unlimited clients accessing the db's online?

Also, do I have to load anything onto my XServer (besides the db's) in order to handle FMU?

[Steve T.]

Howdy, stardust! Welcome aboard!

FileMaker, Inc. recommends not directly publishing your db and use a "copy" of it for web publishing instead but I have not found an answer as to how to do that well. I directly publish my db's from a single G3/300 desktop running FMP Unlimited 5.5. For the most part, Unlimited is EXACTLY the same thing as FMP client but without the IP restricition.

To publish, install and configure FMU on the desired computer and open the db's to be published. You'll need to make sure they are shared w/Web Companion and you may want to look into security options. I use the Web Security database, but that's optional (you should have a copy of PDF they give you on web security somewhere). Be careful if you have any confidential info in your databases... you'd be surprised at how easy it can be to peek at insecure FMP db's published on the web.

There's lots of options and combo's you can do, too. You can use FMP exclusively (currently, I do) but you may want to consider letting X-serve's Apache serve your static web pages and only have FMP serve your database stuff (on a different port like :591), but if you're not comfortable w/servers yet stick w/FMP only for now. If you're a coder or advanced web person, you can look into using additional scripting tools and products (javascript, php, perl, shell scripts, lasso, commercial plug-ins, etc.) to enhance your website.

And don't worry, Maria... just hang in there. There's lots of helpful people on FMFORUMS and reading the posts will help a lot. Pay extra attention to folks w/over 1000 posts... they usually know what they're talking about but even they do not always agree on things. It's educational to read their arguments, however, and they usually don't get nasty like on other boards/forums.

Have fun!

--ST

[stardust]

Thanks for the input! It is greatly appreciated. I'm art director by trade and have been dabbling with FM for the last four years. I've been able to pull together a handful of solutions to meet my studio's needs, but this is the first time I've tried to do anything online.

I've found these forums to be a godsend when I find myself jammed into a corner.

I'll look into the security issues you've mentioned! Thanks!