FMServer Warning 661

[Kent Searight]

Does anyone know what this message means? I'm running Server 9 with email notifications to be sent when there's a failure or warning. I keep getting emails from the server saying "FMServer Warning 661 Client "so and so" authentication failed on database. When I ask the client if they're having trouble logging in or if they misspelled the account name or password, they say no, that they're not having any problems at all.

Thanks in advance!

[JesseSFR]

The addition of emails in FileMaker 9 server is definitely pretty awesome. I get the same email when someone fat fingers a log in. I am assuming that everything probably is fine. Is it always the same username???

[Kent Searight]

Is it always the same username???

No, it's happened when I've logged in successfully also.

I'm a bit surprised that FM Server would display such a specific message, "Warning 661", but when you look for it in Help, nothing comes up.

By mid-afternoon I'd received about 30 such email notification, so I changed the notification settings to "Errors only", so as not to include the mysterious warnings.

Other than the above issue, the email notification is a nice feature.

[JesseSFR]

That's very strange... I'll have to check that out with my server and see if it has the same results... thanks for the heads up. Might actually be a bug.

[jkrier]

I have the same issue. Please let me know if you find out why this is happening. It is cluttering up the event.log file. Thanks, Julie

Here's a line from the event.log.

2007-08-15 09:33:54.307 -0800 Warning 661 FM9SVR Client "Juliana Gomez" authentication failed on database "Campaign Transactions.fp7" using "juliana.gomez [fmapp]".

[Vaughan]

I have an answer: opener files.

I've set up opener files for my solutions. These automatically open themselves with their built-in default "admin" account. However the main solutions don't have the same account structures, so when the opener tries to log-in as "admin" it's authentication fails, then it brings up the authentication dialog.

[Kent Searight]

Yes, Vaughan, that does appear to be the common denominator.

Good going!

[jkrier]

Thanks! I have lots of files opening when the user gets into FM.

[Vaughan]

This is cause enough to re-evaluate the design and use of opener files. Bugger.

[TjBrice]

I'm also receiving the same error message but I'm not using any opener files. I read somewhere recently that it could be something to do with the web enabled portion of FMS, and even though I've tried turning off the web server, I still get the error message. I'm now beginning to think it might be a larger issue...?

[Vaughan]

The file itself could still be set up to open the file with a username and password that don;t exist.

Check the File Options.

[carlsson]

We are also having the same issue, and none of our "File Options.../Log in" are checked.

Quite frusrtating.

Any more ideas?

[bl]

Hello,

I am getting the Warning 661 as well. I have no new information to add, but please post findings if/when the cause is identified.

Thanks!

[Baloo]

We're also seeing it when a user opens a database and authenticates against LDAP then that database opens a related file authenticating against the same LDAP account. My best guess is that while the client can access the LDAP login from the user's box (all XP) it doesn't store the password so when it goes to open the related database it first attempts to do so with just the username. Once that fails it decides to go look up the password and the user never sees a difference. Between opener files and this we're getting ~400 661 emails a day. Is there anyway to turn off just this warning? (we'd like to see the others) (I'm currently just filtering them out with my email client) I mean I really don't need to know that a client's auth failed. If they can't get in I'll hear about it.

edited to add:

After playing with this a bit more I've got a better handle on what Filemaker's doing. If the first database (DB1) is opened with File->Open Remote and automatically authenticates against LDAP everything is fine. When DB1 automatically opens DB2 to access related data it does grab the LDAP login/password but it first attempts to use it as a Filemaker login which fails. It then runs through the list of accounts in DB2 hits the LDAP account and authenticates correctly. The user never knows the difference but the server throws a 661 Warning.

Edited February 21, 2008 by Guest

[ThuanSiga]

We get the same problem on our Windows Server 2003 installation with Active Directory. In our case, I found out (from the Filemaker knowledge base) that the warnings come up when the account is locally authenticated in the Filemaker file. That is, Filemaker first tries to authenticate the user to the domain and then checks the internal Filemaker accounts after the domain authentication failure. It's considered normal and is just how Filemaker does it.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I missed the thread while it was going on because I was on travel status.

FileMaker Server [color:red]does not authenticate against LDAP. It authenticates against Open Directory, Active Directory, and local security Groups and Accounts.

The LDAP option is for the registration of the server only so that it can be more easily found. That has nothing to do with External Server Authentication.

The Server External Autherntication Tech Brief covers these matters in some detail.

Steven

[Baloo]

Thanks but just in case someone gets confused. I'm a FMP and PHP/MySQL DBA/Developer and know somewhere between diddly and squat about MS Exchange management. I tend to use LDAP and Active Directory interchangeably. So the fact that FMP doesn't authenticate against LDAP is a bit of a red herring in relation to this thread.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

It's actually very relevant since many people mistakenly believe they are configuring External Server authentication when they are working in the LDAP configuration UI of the FileMaker Server Admin console.

Steven

[Bart van Belle]

Good topic. I am getting a lot of these. In our situation the server uses Filemaker Accounts only to authenticate, clients use opener DB's and complain about getting kicked off a couple of times a day. Every time this happens the log generates the Warning 661, with Admin, Guest and correct username interspersed. Log entries appear every 5 to 8 minutes apart. Users experience no problems with the opener DB's, though!

Server has no idle time set.

Is there a solution?

[Bart van Belle]

Sorry, I seem to have posted on the wrong issue.

Restarting the FM server app got rid of the problem of users getting kicked off, but the warning 661 issue is still there.

It looks like the issue is related to the starter DB.

[spongebob]

Hi I found out exactly why this error happens.

My Filemaker solution has 5 files. Whenever I try to log into one of the files I got a "teacup" for a short moment and then such an Error 661 email was generated and then I got into the file anyways.

I am a user in a group and in the Security part of the Filemaker file I have a group on my domainname server that I authenticate against.

But..it never does this first. What it does first is what it says in "File->File Options" Menu. In there, I had a tick on "use this account to log in" and the login name was set to Admin and the password was set to blank. These were incorrect credentials. So heres what was happenning:

- FM tried to use the incorrect credentials of the file as specified in "File Options" itself and they didnt work.

- This generated the error and the email.

- THEN it wen on to test for my credentials in the Security Tab (against the domain name server etc etc etc).

After removing the rubbish in the "File Options" part, leaving the name and password BLANK and removing the tick beside it and clicking OK, this entirely solved the problem.

No more emails, and login is lightening fast now, no more teacups.

Earl Grey anyone?

With much love

Spongebob

Hi I found out exactly why this error happens.

My Filemaker solution has 5 files. Whenever I try to log into one of the files I got a "teacup" for a short moment and then such an Error 661 email was generated and then I got into the file anyways.

I am a user in a group and in the Security part of the Filemaker file I have a group on my domainname server that I authenticate against.

But..it never does this first. What it does first is what it says in "File->File Options" Menu. In there, I had a tick on "use this account to log in" and the login name was set to Admin and the password was set to blank. These were incorrect credentials. So heres what was happenning:

- FM tried to use the incorrect credentials of the file as specified in "File Options" itself and they didnt work.

- This generated the error and the email.

- THEN it wen on to test for my credentials in the Security Tab (against the domain name server etc etc etc).

After removing the rubbish in the "File Options" part, leaving the name and password BLANK and removing the tick beside it and clicking OK, this entirely solved the problem.

No more emails, and login is lightening fast now, no more teacups.

Earl Grey anyone?

With much love

Spongebob