I'm just beginning to try and configure a network to allow access to the FileMaker system from the outside world. The company has a cable connection to the Internet with five static IP addresses and the rest of the computers being configured with DHCP. They also have a Time Capsule providing wireless access to the network. The FileMaker Server, running Mac OS X 10.5.8 and FileMaker Server 9.0.3.326 is one of the machines with a static IP address. The FileMaker Server is configured to allow all network traffic in via the System Preferences>Security>Firewall screen.

It would seem to me that given the above the FileMaker server should be available to the outside network, but it's not. I haven't found any other firewall, but that doesn't mean there isn't one somewhere, although I don't think so.

But here's where it gets weird. Although I can use FileMaker Pro on any machine in the local network to log into the FileMaker Server, other network protocols seem to be completely ignored by the FileMaker Server. Using FileMaker, I can choose Open Remote, enter a network path of fmnet:/xx.xxx.xx.xxx/ENTRY and the file successfully opens. However, the server does not appear in the Local Hosts lists of that dialog box.

Additionally, no other services seem to be available. I've tested the server with screen sharing, file sharing, web sharing, and none of them work. Also, opening a terminal and attempting to ping that IP address results only request timeouts.

How can FileMaker serve files to clients but I can't even ping the computer?

The final goal is simple to enable users who aren't in the office but are on the Internet to log into the FileMaker Server using FileMaker Pro. The additional information is just what I thought might be useful in troubleshooting this.

As you might be able to tell, I know just enough about networking to be dangerous. Any advice or assistance would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chuck

Your cable router needs config to allow traffic on port 5003 to be forwarded to the internal fmserver.