Admin windows sharing

[Cortical]

Hi All,

I have a client that has Server 8 advanced installed on a windows box (I failed to note whether XP or server version OS), and uses windows administration sharing to get at the drive remotely. This did allow dragging down files to a local client machine, which with no OS sharing turned off, that I am familiar with, would allow. Now windows is not my (preferred) environment.

I understand the requirements about system level sharing not being allowed, and have underlined that from the start. The IT person was of the opinion, that admin sharing was different to ordinary system sharing; but they are not FileMaker savvy.

Can anyone illuminate me on this please?

regards

Chris

[Genx]

Yeh, Ignore them, you HAVE to share via FMS... If you want to share FileMaker solutions without corruption you HAVE to do it via server. I don't understand why you are dragging down files to the local machine at all.

Open each of the files on the local machine and go to Edit->Sharing->Fm Network. Turn it on for your files.

On your server, Go To C:Program FilesFileMaker ServerDataDatabasesDump your Fp7 files here (note that the path may be different depending on where you've installed FMS).

Open up the FMS Admin console, login, navigate to the DB node and open up all your files.

Finally: Go to a client machine, Click File->Open Remote... you should now have all the db's available - no copying, no corruption issues.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Please read the Server Tech Brief found on the FMI web site. The deployment model you have described is a bad idea.

Steven

[Cortical]

Steven: Yes, I have read it several times over the years, and indeed recently. It does not however specifically address my question. Which was, given my relatively limited familiarity with windows underpinnings, and given that I do understand, and did understand, that OS file system sharing is bad practice; is there something different about windows admin level sharing (which the IT sever crowd thought there was) that allows file system access from a remote box? What I referred to as windows admin sharing I think may may be in correct terms 'windows management tools'. I have also reread the The techbrief_security, nothing there either..

Genx: The reason for the connection was to download a database file. The server is/was currently physically inaccessible due to its management by government contractors as I understand.

techbrief_fm8_server.pdf:

p22 Sharing Considerations

OS-level file sharing on FileMaker Pro files and folders continues to be a non-supported configuration and

needs to be avoided at all cost. File sharing is one of the main reasons for data & fi le corruption. It also might

compromise the physical security of the fi les and data in them. Read more about this in the technical brief on

FileMaker 8 Security.

There is one extra temptation with FileMaker Server 8 to allow fi le sharing: FileMaker Server 8 includes a sub-

folder with all the necessary fi les to install the FileMaker Server Admin Application (FileMaker Server Admin

tool) from the network.

Sharing that folder is not bad under all circumstances. It is bad if the parent FileMaker Server 8 folder itself is

shared to gain access to the FMS Server Admin folder as the sharing privileges will propagate down to the Data

Database folder where the live files might live.

A better approach is to move the FMS Server Admin install folder elsewhere and share it from another location,

where there are other network install folders and sharing is setup for that purpose.

p29

Windows Management Tools won’t do you much good because they all refer to the local machine, not the services, event logs, etc. of the machine FileMaker Server 8 runs on. Well, not really. You can connect those Windows Management Tools to the remote machine running FileMaker Server 8.

---

I assumed the admin issue in question, was a bad idea. What I was in need of was specific information.

So revision: is it or can, windows management tools be legitimately used to connect to the remote sever, and can these tools upload/download files? Failing this, is physical access to the server the only means of uploading/downloading files?

regards

Chris

[Cortical]

I perhaps should have added, that this is a different client to an earlier thread about virtual machines running server.

For your interest and perhaps amusement:

This is (another) hospital, and the servers are a run by a large contractor; at a fee of $400 per month, each server. I think I have convinced them (the client) that their needs are not being adequately met in terms of data integrity, and that migrating the server, to a new box within the department would allow access and appropriate configuration.

Chris

[Vaughan]

FMS 9.0 allows upload of files through the remote admin tool.