I have a SBS2003 server that currently only serves a small workgroup for file sharing and printing, i.e., Exchange is not being used. I'd like to add FMP7 Server to this box.

After reading through the postings on various FMP forums, it seems to me that FMP7 Server will run on a Windows SBS 2003 server, although FMP is not 'tested' nor recommended by FM for this configuration.

Does anyone have any experience with running FMP7 Server on a Windows SBS 2003? I'm curious if there are any issues?

It will work fine on SBS 2003, but you should not run any other applications on that computer--in particular it should not be used as a file/print server for other applications.

What relevance had file/print serving have on Filemaker Server?

I have Filemaker Server 7 running on SBS2003 server which also has a lot of other services running on it i.e. my whole infrastructure Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, Exchange, File serving, print serving, etc.

My databases periodically disappear from the server list when I try to open the databases from a client. I have to restart the server to regain my databases - which I obviously dont want to do.

So if you know how relevant file serving and print serving on a SBS2003 server also being used as a Filemaker server is I would appreciate it.

Thanks

Running a file sharing service and FMS on the same box is not a good idea, in fact it was explicitly recommended against. Both services compete for the same computer resources -- network, hard disk etc -- so it is far from optimal.

It's especially bad when the hosted FMP files can be accessed through the file sharing service as well: this leads to data corruption.

I'd put FMS on its own box by itself.

Thanks for the advice