Hello All!

I'm attempting to set up FMS with Web Publishing, and have run into a big obstacle:

My director dropped in and asked if I could assist with a standard installation of FMS on Snow Leopard. It seems he couldn't find a way to pass the web-server test while in the Deployent Assistant.

We tried using host 127.0.0.1 (server is local) and port 80 with no luck. I tinkered around with the server/web/DNS settings and everything seems pretty solid. PHP5 is running (which I don't think matters anyways since FMS has its own distribution), as well as Apache and the usual web modules.

I must admit, I am new at this position and I do not know what may have previously been configured on the server that may restrict IWP from being properly set-up.

Quite frankly, I'm stumped. If any of you have any ideas as to why this might be happening I would appreciate any response. Thank you for your time, and have a great day!

-Alex

PS: I did search through the forums and could not find a similar issue, however if I overlooked it I apologize in advance.

Well the first thing is to be sure that you have FIleMAker Server Advanced and not the standard version. IWP requires FMS Advanced.

Steven

Hello! Yes, we are running FileMaker Server Advanced. I'm sorry, I should have been clearer about that. Thank you for your prompt response!

Try shutting down the PHP and any other non-Apache web related services. The try re-editing the Server deployment in the Console to see if you can pickup the running instance of Apache. This is a one machine configuration, right?

Steven

Have seen this problem many times since I support multiple clients on different servers ( OS X 10.5, 10.6, Windows 2003, and Windows 2008). But no matter how many times I talk to FileMaker engineers they never seem to see this happen. They hear about it but apparently it doesn't happen to them which is a mystery to me.

The issue is in the httpd.conf file that is used by Apache for configuration in Leopard and Snow Leopard. The file is hidden in the 'etc/apache2' directory. For some reason FileMaker Server 10 and 11 somehow fail often in writing correctly to it to the point that the file will never work. No matter what diagnostics you run, you may never see the problem. Fortunately Apple keeps a backup for us so we can easily replace with the original httpd.conf before any FileMaker server installs ever occurred.

So here is a quick fix:

1. Under the finder select

GO > Go to folder...

2. Type in

/etc/apache2

3. Launch Terminal app that you find in your Applications folder under Utilities

4. Type

Sudo -s

* will ask for you password. Type it and it will return the prompt.

5. Next we are going to copy the backup version of httpd.conf

but we must do it in Terminal to ensure the permissions are correct.

Type or better yet copy and paste this to avoid any typos:

cp /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf~orig /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

6. Now let's restart Apache. Type in Terminal:

sudo apachectl restart

7. If you have the FileMaker Server Admin Console open now trying deploying web publishing. It should work. If it doesn't, try one more thing. Go to your Systems Preferences>Network and turn 'off' Configure IPv6. You should find it after you click the Advanced button in Snow Leopard.

8. Here is also something to check. If you double click the file now and open it in TextEdit (read only of course) and scroll all the way down you should see the correct

parameters that FileMaker Server 11 adds to Snow Leopard's httpd.conf file.

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/fmi-test.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/fm-server-status.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/mod_jk.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/php/snow leopard/httpd.conf.php'

I hope FileMaker adds a Knowledge Base article at some point because I am pretty sure many people could save a few hours if not days trying to figure this out.

Hope that helps!

Javier Villalobos

JVillalobos Consulting

[email protected]

Thanks for this good answer. There was a similar known issue with FileMaker Server 9 as described in thefmkb.com/6454 Tech Info.

Steven

Thank you Javier.

Gracias Javier...

Have seen this problem many times since I support multiple clients on different servers ( OS X 10.5, 10.6, Windows 2003, and Windows 2008). But no matter how many times I talk to FileMaker engineers they never seem to see this happen. They hear about it but apparently it doesn't happen to them which is a mystery to me.

The issue is in the httpd.conf file that is used by Apache for configuration in Leopard and Snow Leopard. The file is hidden in the 'etc/apache2' directory. For some reason FileMaker Server 10 and 11 somehow fail often in writing correctly to it to the point that the file will never work. No matter what diagnostics you run, you may never see the problem. Fortunately Apple keeps a backup for us so we can easily replace with the original httpd.conf before any FileMaker server installs ever occurred.

So here is a quick fix:

1. Under the finder select

GO > Go to folder...

2. Type in

/etc/apache2

3. Launch Terminal app that you find in your Applications folder under Utilities

4. Type

Sudo -s

* will ask for you password. Type it and it will return the prompt.

5. Next we are going to copy the backup version of httpd.conf

but we must do it in Terminal to ensure the permissions are correct.

Type or better yet copy and paste this to avoid any typos:

cp /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf~orig /private/etc/apache2/httpd.conf

6. Now let's restart Apache. Type in Terminal:

sudo apachectl restart

7. If you have the FileMaker Server Admin Console open now trying deploying web publishing. It should work. If it doesn't, try one more thing. Go to your Systems Preferences>Network and turn 'off' Configure IPv6. You should find it after you click the Advanced button in Snow Leopard.

8. Here is also something to check. If you double click the file now and open it in TextEdit (read only of course) and scroll all the way down you should see the correct

parameters that FileMaker Server 11 adds to Snow Leopard's httpd.conf file.

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/fmi-test.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/fm-server-status.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Admin/admin-helper/WEB-INF/conf/mod_jk.conf'

#FMI_Configuration_V1

Include '/Library/FileMaker Server/Web Publishing/publishing-engine/php/snow leopard/httpd.conf.php'

I hope FileMaker adds a Knowledge Base article at some point because I am pretty sure many people could save a few hours if not days trying to figure this out.

Hope that helps!

Javier Villalobos

JVillalobos Consulting

[email protected]