Sharing Database OUTSIDE of LAN

[Enyko]

Hey guys,

My first post! I love FMP and I'm excited to be a part of this community!

To start, I will say that I have searched for this answer online to no avail. What I'm looking to do is to share my FMP database via IWP so that I can access it with either 1) another copy of FMP or 2) a web browser. I want to achieve this via port forwarding, not by running FMP Server. I believe I have done the appropriate port forwarding necessary but I still can't seem to get it to work.

More details here; http://forums.filemaker.com/posts/702dc04af1

Thanks!

PS> I'm quite desperate to get this done so if it can't be answered here on the forums, I'm willing to hiring a FMP freelancer to assist me with this.

[bruceR]

Hey guys,

My first post! I love FMP and I'm excited to be a part of this community!

To start, I will say that I have searched for this answer online to no avail. What I'm looking to do is to share my FMP database via IWP so that I can access it with either 1) another copy of FMP or 2) a web browser. I want to achieve this via port forwarding, not by running FMP Server. I believe I have done the appropriate port forwarding necessary but I still can't seem to get it to work.

More details here; http://forums.filemaker.com/posts/702dc04af1

Thanks!

PS> I'm quite desperate to get this done so if it can't be answered here on the forums, I'm willing to hiring a FMP freelancer to assist me with this.

You're giving conflicting statements. You want to share by IWP but access using FileMaker app. Those are two completely different things.

First of all, on the host computer, FileMaker must be running and the file must be open and must have the proper permissions. For IWP, you must forward port 80 or 591, whatever you have set for IWP.

To access with FileMaker app, you must forward port 5003.

Note that if you join Technet for $99, you get a development copy of FileMaker Server Advanced. Otherwise - for FileMaker access - you will need to own two different copies of FileMaker, one to run on the host "home" machine and one to run on the "away" machine.

[Enyko]

You're giving conflicting statements. You want to share by IWP but access using FileMaker app. Those are two completely different things.

First of all, on the host computer, FileMaker must be running and the file must be open and must have the proper permissions. For IWP, you must forward port 80 or 591, whatever you have set for IWP.

To access with FileMaker app, you must forward port 5003.

Note that if you join Technet for $99, you get a development copy of FileMaker Server Advanced. Otherwise - for FileMaker access - you will need to own two different copies of FileMaker, one to run on the host "home" machine and one to run on the "away" machine.

Hey Bruce,

Thanks for the response. I guess I'm a bit confused on the terminology. Should I assume the following;

Sharing by IWP means, accessing the DB via a web browser by forwarding my router ports to 80 or 591 depending on what I have set in IWP for the host computer.

Accessing the DB with another copy of the application (remotely), requires forwarding my router port to 5003.

Both scenarios require the host machine to be running the FMP file and have proper permissions.

If this is correct, my questions are;

- since I do indeed have two different copies of FMP on two different machines, what exactly do I need to do on the remote machine to open up that file which is open on the host machine back at the office? I assume File > Open Remote > ... then what? View "Hosts Listed by LDAP"? if so, what are those settings?

As you can imagine this is extremely difficult to test since I have to make one change (port to 80 or 591), then go somewhere offsite to test it. Is there a way to test this in-house? Where my LAN will think I'm offsite?

[bruceR]

An additional bit of missing information is that you must have the IP address of the host computer, as seen by the outside world. For this you may need a dynamic DNS service if you do not have a static IP address.

For the IWP part, if you have an iPhone or other browser equipped phone, you can try connecting that way.

For remote FileMaker connection, you use open remote and the known remote IP address.

[jazzygb1]

Hi,

I hate to hijack Enyko's thread but I too am having almost exactly the same problem.

I can share my DB via my office Lan and access it via a browser just fine on the office network.

However I have failed in all my attempts to access it via the internet.

What do I have to type in to access the database over the web?

My Mac server has a static ip of 168.1.1.51 connected to the internet by an ISP with a static IP of 91.135.6.36.

This is connected to an ADSL router with port 80 and port 5003 (I have 2 licences for FM11) both forwarded to the 168.1.1.51 ip address.

So my question is what do i have to type into my web browser to access the database via the web?

is it just 168.1.1.51?

Or is it 91.135.6.36?

Or a combination of both?

I'm sorry to be such a thickie on this, but NOWHERE does it mention it online, except for saying type in the ip address - which doesn't appear to work.

I've spent the last 4 days trying to get this to work, so if someone could steer me in the right direction I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks in advance & apologies again for ambushing the thread.

GB

[bruceR]

You don't say how you're "sharing". Using FileMaker Server? Using FileMaker Pro? It's open right now? Does your ISP allow you to run a web server? Some don't and block port 80. What do you get when you go to:

http://www.whatismyip.com/

Edited August 11, 2010 by Guest

[jazzygb1]

Hi,

Thank you for your response - I really appreciate it.

The good news is I've managed to actually get it working (hooray) :

I'm not sure why it suddenly worked as I didn't do anything differently than I had before - but I'm delighted.

Anyway for Enyko & anyone else who's having problems, this is what I did...

1: I gave a static IP address to the computer hosting the database (my server) in my office (an old Mac Mini). This was set to 192.168.1.51

2: I opened the FM database on the server & enabled IWP 'Internet web Publishing'

3: on my modem/router I opened (forwarded) ports 80 & 5003 and assigned them to the server's (Mac Mini) IP address of 192.168.1.51

4: I then went home & opened a web browser and typed into the address bar the IP address of my ISP. For me this was 91.135.6.36 and this opened up a page with a link to my database - brilliant! :

5: I then jumped for joy & punched the air! :

If you wish to have full access to the database (for printing, scripts etc), use another copy of Filemaker to access the database on your server.

This is done by launching a second copy of Filemaker on the computer with the internet connection, then select 'Open Remote' from the file menu.

In the network file path box type in the address of your database which is your ISP's IP address followed by the name of your database file.

PLEASE NOTE`: this address begins with fmnet:/

So for example, my address was fmnet:/91.135.6.36/mydatabase

It's taken nearly five days for me to get this up & running, so I'm chuffed to bits at the moment.

Hope the above proves helpful for anyone else who's struggling with the same problems.

Good luck

GB

PS: I'm using Filemaker Pro Advance v11.02 on OSX (10.64).

WhatismyIP.com shows my IP as 91.135.6.36 and my server is connected to the network with a static IP of 192.168.1.51.

[bruceR]

I'm not sure why it suddenly worked as I didn't do anything differently than I had before - but I'm delighted.

Anyway for Enyko & anyone else who's having problems, this is what I did...

1: I gave a static IP address to the computer hosting the database (my server) in my office (an old Mac Mini). This was set to 192.168.1.51

But you did do something VERY different; you said before the internal IP was 168.1.1.51. That was very suspicious looking as 192.168.x.x is much more common.

[Reid]

Hi,

Lets give the guy a break here. Just because he doesn't know the lingo doesn't mean he should be given the runaround. I think this is the answer you are looking for.

I just got done setting up mine. I'll tell you how I did it. Go to www.no-ip.com and register for a free account. Download the software and keep it running. When you set up the account it will give you a host name which will look something like myhost.no-ip.biz

Start up filemaker and go into the Sharing IWP settings. Go to advanced and click Specify. Change the port to 591. Now you can share your database by using the link http://myhost.no-ip.biz:591

No matter how many times your IP changes the no-ip server will direct the person to the correct ip address on your computer.

If this still doesn't work you'll need to set up port forwarding. Let me know if you need help with that.

Good luck!