HELP! Cannot start database server

[Mark Reed]

I am having a very odd problem.

It started when I rebooted our filemaker server.

Once it rebooted, no one could log into any databases.

I opened the admin console and got the error message "Could not start database server"

When I clicked on the server start icon, it got an hourglass then back to cursor after a minute but it did not start - got same message when I click any of the links on the left - such as databases.

I figured... well... lets manually stop and restart - so I cycled the service manually. Still no luck.

At this point I figured, well, I wanted to upgrade to version 11 anyways.. so I uninstalled filemaker server 10, including bento and the admin console - rebooted the server and installed version 11 server.

It installed fine - but when it went to launcht he admin console for me to set up the server and databases, ect... I get the message Cannot Start Database Server - Restart Server.

Again I manually cycled the services ect... Even tried the command prompt commands to start the server... no luck.

I have no idea what could be causing this ... basically I uninstalled 10 and did a fresh install of 11 and still get this odd DB not running message.

Any ideas? Im ready to drive off a cliff!!!

[jamesducker]

This happens sometimes, is it a Mac or Windows server?

Can you start it using the command line? Sometimes it is just the admin console that breaks?

What other services are running on the server?

If it's a dedicated box then very often, the least time-consuming thing to do when this happens (and especially when changing versions) is to reinstall the operating system.

Hope that helps a bit. I've subscribed to this topic so do come back if you need to.

James

[FMWorx]

Hey Mark,

I had this same prblem happening for months over and over again. By chance, I realized that my IP address wsn't set up on my machine. See, I installed windows server 2008 on my PC (unhooked from the internet), then installed FMServer 11 advanced, then connected to internet. I then had all those problems. So, I reinstalled everything, windows server, then connected to the internet (setup my IP address for that machine), THEN instaled FM Server, and everything has been fine from that point on. It's been about 2 1/2 months now, and everything works fine!

[Mark Reed]

THis is a Windows 2008 32bit server. It was running FMS just fine for the longest time.

This suddenly started after a reboot.

The server is a static IP on our network.

What puzzles me is that I completely removed FMS10 and installed FMS11 fresh and still get this.

Is there anything on the windows side that would impact this?

Its just a plain win2008 member server - nothing odd or fancy about it. Static IP. No antivirus or firewall loaded on it (thats all at our perimeter)

I really do not want to have to rebuild this server when everything else about it is working fine - there has to be something identifiable causing this.

Edited July 10, 2010 by Guest

[Mark Reed]

after a great deal of digging... I uncovered what caused this.

The FMS database communicates using port 5003.

Another logging app was using that port when FMS tried to open the DB service.

Changed the logging server to use a different port and it worked.

[jamesducker]

How very irritating! Well found, though.

What was the name of the logging application? If there is someone else out there using port 5003 by default, then (a) the developers should be told (: its name should be on here to increase the chance of helping others who have the same problem in future.

James

[Mark Reed]

The WatchGuard Firebox logging services for WebBlocker by default is set for 5003.

I see 5003 is reserved - so I am shooting Watchguard a nastygram to let them know they should change that.