How to acces the Filemaker server from outside your local network

[wimvanrooij]

Hi FMForum!

I just bought FM server advanced 10 and the Filemaker 10 client. And i have installed it on the right way on a server inside a LAN.

Everthing works, even the webbased pages (admin console and instand web publisher). But only when i try to acces it from within the LAN.

When i try to acces it from my home computer it doesn't work/can't find the server.

Now my question is: How can i acces the Admin console and the instand web publisher from my home computer?

[Wim Decorte]

Hi fellow Wim,

You need to open up the ports on your firewall / router (of your lan) and forward the correct ports to the IP address of your FMS machine.

For admin: port 16000

for normal fm access: port 5003

for web: port 80

[IdealData]

Or even via a VPN tunnel - safer and easier. The IP address of the 'local' server will then be the same as it is when you are physically connect to the LAN.

[wimvanrooij]

Thank you both for the quick response!

I will talk to my boss about the firewall options.

Abouth the VPN tunnel, you mean that i can connect to my server with a 192.168?

Any tips for installing the VPN server?

[Wim Decorte]

For VPN you have different options. Depending on the expected load you may want some dedicated system for it and not run it on an existing server (certainly not on the FMS machine).

If you want it free you can go with a linux box. Or you use the Windows VPN setup (it's a server role when you setup Windows server).

[IdealData]

Yes, that's the point about VPN - the traffic is encoded AND you are now 'at your won desk' in a virtual fashion. So 192.168.... is okay.

[wimvanrooij]

Thank you all again for your help.

I now can acces the admin console through my home computer.

But i can't seem to acces the IWP. Port 591 is open and i have forwarded that post to my Filemaker server. (since port 80 was already in use and i read that 591 is saved for filemaker products only).

How can i acces the IWP?

[Steven H. Blackwell]

All web ports for FileMaker are controlled by the Web Server, either IIS or Apache. When you configure the WPE in the Console, the database server must be able to recognize it. It, in turn. must be able to recognize the Web Server. AFAIK, that must occur on Port 80.

An external call to the web server could be on some other port, but then the Web Server must still be able to recognize the WPE.

Steven