FileMaker Server Backup to Remote Folders on Windows OS

By Ken Moorhead of Excelisys...

So, your client is running FileMaker Server, and they want their backup files to be stored in a shared or remote folder on the network so an automated routine can pick them up from another computer. And your client is not flexible about this; the files must be in the network folder by 3:00am or very bad things will happen! <insert doom mood music here> You then dutifully go to the FileMaker Server (FMS) console and type in the new backup path only to find out, no matter what you do, it is not a valid path.  You are unable to have FileMaker Server backup to a remote folder, now what do you do?

FMS can only back up to LOCAL folders/drives. So, FMS is correct – it is not a valid path. FMS will not let you back up to a remote folder for some very good reasons, which they dutifully detail in their Best Practices. To be fair, while this might seem as if it were anything from an annoyance to an oversight, to a flat out bug, they have strong points and they prohibit it for good reasons. But, good reasons or not, your client needs those files in that shared remote folder…

How do you make FileMaker Server backup to remote folders? The answer is simple enough, you let the OS handle it in any number of ways. What follows is a solution for Windows that I set up a few years ago for a client. It was, to my thinking, the simplest of all solutions: run a system-level batch file. The batch file in question, named copy.bat, uses xcopy to achieve its magic. The xcopy command is a Windows shell command that copies files and folders from one location to another. FMS’ ability to run system-level scripts allows you to use this batch file to copy your backups to any location on the network visible from the FMS service.

Read more about it and find out how!