Hi --

I'm working on a project for a museum -- it's an in-house database for the use of only 2 or 3 staffers, though down the road the data may be used for broader access in an additional project. For now there will never be more than 3 or 4 users at once.

I've been hoping that I would be able to use the 'Open Remote' feature to make further modifications, especially once we install Supercontainer to handle images and documents (up till now we've simply emailed the development versions back and forth) -- but I think the museum may be unwilling to open up a port (I think that's the lingo?) in order to allow me direct access to the file from my home computer. So I would have to do site visits to do further development and occasional tweaks.

So, my question: will installing FMP Server solve the issue? If they are running the file on Server would I then be able to modify / administer the database remotely -- or does this just run into the same issue?

If not, how do freelance developers out there negotiate this situation -- of needing to perform remote modifications in cases where the business won't open a port?

I'm not at all network savvy, so apologies if this is basic.

You would run into the same issue with FileMaker Server, as it uses the same ports for FileMaker Network Sharing (and other protocols) as FileMaker Pro.

You may want to consider hosting the databases off-site with a service such as ours:

http://www.pointinspace.com/

If it's just a case that the museum won't port map 5003 to your internal server there, this would solve that problem. However, if they block port 5003 usage alltogether on the network, then it wouldn't. You could test for the latter by trying to log into a FileMaker database elsewhere using a client on their network.

- John