FM 8 Server Scripting

[Rob P]

I've got a development server on OS X (my own box). I need a script to disconnect all users, close all db's, and shut down the server before my box goes to sleep at night like I occassionally do.

How do I do that?

[Steven H. Blackwell]

You don't. Server CPU's should never be set to sleep automatically. This can damage the FileMaker Pro files.

I believe you can write an external OS based script that disconnects users and stops the service. But the real question is why you're doing this?

Steven

[Rob P]

Let me repeat...this is "MY" development server. The "users" is me. I don't work at night, nor does my computer. So, I want to write a server script, to stop the server before my computer goes to sleep because I won't remember at the end of the day to stop the FMS service.

Make sense?

In a working environment I would never do this; but this is not a working environment; it's more like, a work in progress environment. :/

[Rob P]

So, doesn't anyone do OS scripts? What I find odd is there is no command line for "start" only "stop."

[Steven H. Blackwell]

fmserver_helperd start

fmserver_helperd stop

fmserver start

fmserver stop

all from the Terminal.

Steven

[Rob P]

hm. Fmserver_helperd commands seem to do something but have no effect on the server.

fmserver simply returns command not found.

But that threw me off. The FM help says to use fmsadmin...of course that only stops not starts whereas helperd seems to have a start & stop.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

My error. It should be as follows:

fmserverd start

fmserverd stop

The helper daemon runs in the background. Start and stop it as part of the routine.

Steven

[Rob P]

ok.. this is what I got

Isn't that the point...I want to stop it. This all seemed very straight forward doing this on Linux with FMS5.5. I tried

fmserverd stop

Another instance of FileMaker Server is already running.

Of COURSE IT'S RUNNING!  

sudo fmserverd stop

Another instance of FileMaker Server is already running.

thinking that it might be a permissions thing. That didn't make any difference.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Did you ever have a trial version of Server installed on this machine? That message sometimes appears when the trail version was not removed entirely.

Steven

[Rob P]

I had 7 advanced but never a trial version. I used the removal tool that came with 8 to pull it off.

[JohnDCCIU]

I think that the command you're looking for is "fmsadmin", not "fmserverd". The former is a command to control the latter. Typing fmsadmin by itself at the Terminal prompt will give you further information on how to get syntax, etc.

You can use systemstarter to stop and start fmserverd directly, but I don't think you'll need to do that if you use fmsadmin.