Remote Question

[cmury]

All,

I'm developing/managing a remote inhouse db for a small design practice in an opposite time zone.

It's a separated scheme [interface & Data]. The DB is up and running - so the data is live. Both sides use OSX 10.3 and FM not FM server.

I'm occassionally updating the interface file as change requests come in. This is achieved as follows:

- Make changes on my local file

- Request [via email] the practice admin to quit FM

- Update server file via a VPN setup

- Request [via email] the practice admin to re-start FM

The question I have is whether the quit/start of FM can be done remotely? This would make life so much easier!!

Can this be scripted? Or do I need something like Remote Desktop? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Chris

[Steve T.]

Hi, Chris! There may be better ways, but I just rely on restarting the computer remotely via SSH.

For anyone wondering what that is, it's unix command line access to a computer from a remote location. Once Mac OS X has been set to receive SSH connections (System Preferences > Sharing > Remote Login), the server can be accessed from your remote computer's command line via Terminal.

ssh [email protected]

ssh [email protected]

As long as your account has Administrator privileges, you can then type

sudo shutdown -r now

to restart it. On our servers here, we set them to auto-launch FileMaker Pro and startup and then auto-open a db file called opener.fp5 which then opens all of our web shared databases via a FM opening script.

Chris, you can probably make scripts to close the db's, upload, reboot, and then the appropraite db's will be in place. This will cause a disruption in services but you won't have to wait on someone else getting your e-mail messages and then coordinating a time.

You can use remote control type software, too, I suppose, but I'm not comforatble with those and I think they can clunk down the server. I use old hand-me-down servers that are slow enough already (300MHz G3s).

--ST

[Ender]

For remote control of Macs, I'd recommend Timbuktu Pro. With Timbuktu, you can easily control remote machines or copy files back and forth. You would need to purchase a license for each computer it's installed in.

Also, Apple makes something called Remote Desktop. It works in a similar way and ends up being cheaper if you have a lot of computers. It works great on a local network, but is slower than Timbuktu over a WAN.

[cmury]

Thanks for your help - much appreciated.

The command line option looks great - but unfortunately I'm not looking to reboot the server system. Just FM is fine. The practice also file shares from this server.

So Timbuktu or Remote Desktop look like the answer. I've had a quick surf and T looks as though it will do the job and a reesonable $.

Thanks again

Chris