mac FMS 13 WebServer not starting

[Todd Geist]

FileMaker Server 13.0v1 running on Mac OSX 10.8.5

 

The Web Server is not starting. I even tried starting with the terminal.  Nothing

 

System.log has the following entries

Mar 12 20:33:37 fm12.geistinteractive.net com.filemaker.syslogger[90]: Starting HTTP Server process...
Mar 12 20:33:39 fm12 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.filemaker.httpd.start): Throttling respawn: Will start in 8 seconds
Mar 12 20:33:41 fm12 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.filemaker.httpd.start): Throttling respawn: Will start in 6 seconds
Mar 12 20:33:31 fm12 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.filemaker.httpd.start): Throttling respawn: Will start in 4 seconds
Mar 12 20:33:33 fm12 com.apple.launchd[1] (com.filemaker.httpd.start): Throttling respawn: Will start in 2 seconds

I suspect the security update that came out last week.

 

Does anybody have any ideas?

 

Thanks

Todd

[Wim Decorte]

No errors reported on the starting, just consecutive attempts?

 

Can you trace back through the log to when it was last stopped?

[Todd Geist]

Hi Wim,

 

On March 7th I did a restart on the server.  The Http Server stopped, and has not restarted since.  I didn't notice until yesterday.  That restart was for the security update - OS X Mavericks 10.9.2 and Security Update 2014-001.

 

There are some other logs in the FileMaker HTTP Server folder.  I found this in the httpctl.log

 

========== start ==========
Wed Mar 12 20:33:37 PDT 2014
/usr/sbin/httpd -k start -D FILEMAKER -f /Library/FileMaker Server/HTTPServer/conf/httpd.conf
httpd (pid 119) already running
========== start ==========
Wed Mar 12 20:33:35 PDT 2014
/usr/sbin/httpd -k start -D FILEMAKER -f /Library/FileMaker Server/HTTPServer/conf/httpd.conf
httpd (pid 119) already running
========== graceful ==========
Wed Mar 12 20:42:50 PDT 2014
/usr/sbin/httpd -k graceful -D FILEMAKER -f /Library/FileMaker Server/HTTPServer/conf/httpd.conf

Todd

 

[Todd Geist]

I ended up doing a re-install and that fixed it.

 

Todd

[Claus Lavendt]

Todd, while you resolved your issue by re-install, next time you could try to re-deploy from FMS admin console.

It has worked for me, both in the past, but also with FMS13 and is more easy, than a re-install….

[domiller]

Claus -- How do I re-deploy the console?

 

I'm having the same issue, and I was hoping to avoid a reinstall.

[Claus Lavendt]

Hi Domiller

 

First off, I assume that the admin console is working, as it probably did in Todd's case.

Log into the admin console.

On the status page, upper right corner, there is a menu "Server". Select "Edit deployment" to make a re-deployment, which in many cases fix problems.

Sometimes you need to restart the machine itself, as starting processes now heavily rely on lauchctl, which does not always behave nice until a machine restart.

[IanC]

Thanks for the tip Claus.

 

I've just had this exact problem on FMS13 and Mavericks.

 

After a restart, on the Admin Console > Status page, even though the Web Publishing Engine was ticked and green, the Web Server was not ticked and was grey. I did as you suggested and ran through the Server Deployment and within a minute everything was working without the need for a restart.

[dodzin]

Hello everyone, 

I have experienced a similar problem with Web Server activation - there is no active state of Web Publishing Engine. Not even a switch to turn it on or off.

1. Reboot a computer - does not help.

2. Deployment editing: stops at the stage 3: 

 

The FileMaker installation process was unable to communicate with the web server.

 

Please supply the protocol, host and port information for the Web Server you would like to use for Web Publishing. Click Retry to test your settings.

 

Protocol:

HTTPHTTPS

 

Host:

 

Port:

 

Retry

 

Web Server Test Results

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port 80 on local host

 

SETUP: PRECONFIGURE WEB SERVER: passed

 

Check web server: Cannot contact web server

Update WPE deployment configuration: passed

Test web server (http://127.0.0.1:80/fmi-test/test.xml): Error code = 403

 

The Web Server "grey status" causes several problems - the main and the most frustrating for me: container field content is not being visible: pics, mp4s, pdfs.

 

Are there any thoughts about this issue.

 

Temporary Solution: 

 

open terminal app:

 

type: sudo launchctl stop com.filemaker.fm

enter your password when asked

this will stop FMS on your machine

wait several minutes to complete operation

 

type: sudo launchctl start com.filemaker.fms

enter you password if required 

Wait several minutes to start FMS

 

go to your browser http://localhost:16001/admin-console/

 

log in - and see what happened:

 

 

 

 

Web Publishing Engine

 

 

 

 

 

IP Address

127.0.0.1

 

0 FileMaker WebDirect connections currently open

 

 

FileMaker WebDirect is enabled

 

 

0 Custom Web Publishing connections currently open

 

 

 

 Any ideas how to solve this problem permanently without restating server every time after rebooting computer.

[Claus Lavendt]

It looks like the installation did not go right....

I would suggest that you un-install completely, make sure that the apache webserver is turned off ( sudo apachectl stop ) and re-install FMS13.

You could repair disk permissions before you do the re-install....

 

type: sudo launchctl start com.filemaker.fms

enter you password if required 

Wait several minutes to start FMS

 

This command should tell the launch services of the OS to always use FMS13 instance of the apache configuration, so it works after a reboot of the machine.

[innodat]

I ended up doing a re-install and that fixed it.

 

Sad, very sad. I thought that with Java dependance gone, we wouldn't have to deal with such anymore. Same problem here, only a re-install fixed it.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

FileMaker Server 13 still uses Java in many of its parts.  The Admin Console was what was changed not to depend on Java WebStart architecture.

 

Steven

[innodat]

PS: I had two servers running FMS 13 with this problem. Todd's suggestion solved it on both of them.

 

Just like editing the deployment, the installer reported that ports 80 and 443 were in use, but only the installer was able to fix it. (see screen capture attached). In my opinion, the deployment editor should have this functionality too.

[Agnes Riley]

Thanks, guys! This thread helped me with the same problem. I used to have to reinstall FMS every time you cannot connect to the admin console remotely. Even Jimmy Jones of FMI suggested that. But I'm just sick and tired of doing that. This fixed both Web Direct and the admin console access. [happy dance]...We'll see what happens upon reboot, though.