"Unable to start the database server"

[jgrgnt]

I have an xServe running Leopard. I installed the new Leopard-compatible v3 release of FileMaker Server and got up to the point where it tries to launch the admin console. Shortly after I hit "trust" to the security warning, a message pops up indicating:

"The Database Server is not available. To edit server deployment, please start the Database Server first."

First, I tried hitting the "restart" button, but that just brought more trouble:

"Unable to start the database server..."

Some back story to this. We bought fmsa 9 back in December, and I proceeded to install it on the xServe. Only after I had trouble launching it did I do a search and find out it wasn't Leopard-compatible. Doh! So, I left it alone for a few months while I waited for the patch. Didn't even bother to install the v2 update as I figured it was pointless.

After it became available, I downloaded the v3 patch and did a complete installation, thinking it would overwrite the older v1 installation. I'm now wondering if I should have first uninstalled v1.

I've tried a number of things to get this to work. Multiple reboots, a complete hardware shutdown, reinstalled v3, even uninstalled then reinstalled v3. I even tried using the command line tools to start the server. After all that, the messages about being unable to start the database server persist.

It's an xServe quad-Xeon with 4GB. Leopard is up to date and any available Java updates were installed (software update shows nothing available).

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Keith LaMarre]

I received this same message for a while until I realized it was because I had another copy of the FM Server - with the same serial number running.

[jgrgnt]

Yep, that was the problem. Thanks, Keith! I had another box running Tiger and FileMaker Server (our temp box while we waited for the Leopard patch). I neglected to shut down that machine before trying to set up the xServe. Works great now.

Would have been nice if FileMaker displayed a message like "this serial number is already in use" instead of the actual error message it gave me. Because of it, I was looking in all the wrong places for a fix.

Edited February 8, 2008 by Guest