I just got ESS on FM Pro going and I'm pleased to see that performance is quite good. Now I'd like to tap into the same SQL database through the server. It was advertised on FileMaker's website that this could be done so that you could avoid installing ODBC drivers on every client machine. How is this done? I can't find a place where I can select the DSN inside the FM server config screens.

You don't select it in Server anywhere. What you do is set up the DSN with the ODBC config tool for your particular platform, then select the DSN in the FileMaker database while logged into it on the server just as if you were using it locally. Works like a charm (at least on OS X).

- John

Just as a quick clarifier in case it's needed, you set up the DSN via the ODBC Administrator (on OS X- not sure of the corrcect tool for Windows) on the server, then make sure that ODBC/JDBC is turned on in FileMaker Server. Now, create a new database, load it onto the server, connect to it, and from within that new database, add your external data source.

Thanks for responding. It was a silly mistake on my part. I was working on two servers and had forgotten that I had set the DSN on only one server.

Performance is still pretty good running it off of the server.