Hi guys, I'm about to install a server with FMS12 for the company I work for and I have a few questions to ask to those of you who have already been through this.

I've never run a server and my questions could be a bit noobish: I apologize in advance.

 

The system upon which I want to install FMS is a Mac Mini 2.3Ghz intel i7 running Osx Mountain Lion 10.8.2. Im planning to have 3 people connecting to my db via FMPro12 so no web publishing is required.

 

I saw on FMS12 system requirements that I need to install Osx Server on my machine and I read all Osx Server documentation where I learnt  I need to register a domain to get a server's host name.

 

Can you please suggest a good domain name registrar considering I also need to add records for my server (records: A/PTR/MX/CNAME/3 SRV) to a DNS server)? Is this process mandatory to have my db reachable from anywhere in the world?

 

What I'm planning to do is to register a domain like: "mycompany.com" to have an IP address associated to this, then add DNS records (A/PTR etc.) for "server.mycompany.com", am I right?

 

If any of you could briefly describe me the process they went through setting up their server I'll be really thankful.

 

I'm sorry if this isn't the right place to ask infos like these but I'm having trouble finding specific infos on osx server configuration for FMS12; thank you very much.

If I set up my server with a static IP address, open the required ports for FMS12 (and have users save to favorites the server IP) can I avoid the process of registering a domain name?

Are the 3 users on the same network or will they be connecting from various locations?

 

If they are all on the same network then the static IP is enough and you don't need to open any ports if you leave the firewall on the server off.

 

If they are connecting remotely then you need both a static IP address for your FMS machine and for your firewall/router.  Remote connections go to the firewall first so users need to be able to find that one.  The firewall then needs to be set up so that it forwards traffic on port 5003 to the static internal IP address of the FMS machine.

 

Domain names don't really come into play because when you register a domain you still need to host it, and hosting it yourself is not trivial.  If you can't get a static IP address from your ISP for your firewall router you may want to look into a dynamic DNS name serves like DynDNS.

The users are usually on the same network, but it may happen that they need to connect from other locations and I'd like this case covered. 

My ISP already gives a static IP to my router, I'll check if I can set all up!

Do you know any good wiki/manual regarding this topic that you think would come in hand to a newbie like me?

Thank you very much Wim.

I was under the impression that Filemaker Server doesn't need OSX Server to work, that it would run under the standard OSX operating system.

Here's some good info on port forwarding, with instructions for some popular router models:

http://portforward.com/

 

and from the FileMaker Knowledge Base: http://help.filemaker.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/9770/kw/port%20forwarding

I am having a major problem when trying to connect remotely to FM Server 12 Advanced sitting on a mac server, i am in the process of resolving it, will soon post my own thread in regards to my situation, just going over the forum to see what could be found by now.

All i can say is that you should address this issue very carefully and in detail.

The value of the DBMS is measured by the connectivity and the whole point of FM 12 is around connecting from mobile devices, so if that does not work it does not make much sense.

I noticed an extensive tutorial by Vim Decorte (Carpal Tunel, thank you for that) will try to find the lesson regarding the server firewall on mac and port issues.

I will also follow this thread, please publish if you find the good solution that really works in terms that you could open your iPad in Japan and get quickly to your database sitting in ex. California.