I work in education and have been using FM 12 for our databases and with that IWP to share with the people involved. 

 

I would love to upgrade to FM sever 13 so that we can use Webdirect. However, the computer we are using it on also host web related things using the ports FM requests to use. (see as follows).

 

• Ensure that no existing websites on the master or worker machines use port 80 or 443. These ports are used by FileMaker Server on both machines. If the FileMaker Server installer detects an existing website using these ports, the installer prompts you to let it disable that website.

 

It is not my own personal server and the gentleman who runs our IT department should not be required to bump things to accommodate me. Does anyone know a tried and true way around this. Or does anyone know if this is a situation that Filemaker plans to remedy? 

 

Thanks!

How many simultaneous web browser users will be connecting to FileMaker server?

Port 80 and 443 is required and you can not (easily) change to use other ports. At least, they are required for WebDirect and CWP.

You should use a dedicated server for FMS. Especially for FMS13, since it takes over the web server.

 

If you are using IWP, you need to be aware that Web Direct is NOT a replacement for IWP. It is a totally different product and can not be used instead of IWP.

So if you are using this seriously, you need to stay on FMS12.

For future development, IWP solutions should in many instances be replaced with CWP. But that really depends on what the needs are.

Claus:  Can you expand on what you mean when you say that "Web Direct is NOT a replacement for IWP."   I understand that it's a different product than IWP but why can't it be used instead of IWP? 

IWP was invented in the "old" web days, which basically means that you fill out a form and post it to the server for a response.

WebDirect is a FileMaker client that runs in a web browser.

Not just a simple website.

Because IWP is just a "simple website", FMS12 can handle 100 simultaneous sessions. (providing it is installed on hardware, that can handle it)

WebDirect will currently only handle a couple of handful clients on very good hardware.

That is because WebDirect is not just using a session for requests, but is actually a client, that runs off the server.

Please refer to all the excellent documentation, published by FMI for WebDirect. Also technet is the place to get good information.

Claus is absolutely correct.  WebDirect™ is not intended for construction of web sites.  Efforts to make it behave in that fashion will likely not meet with a high degree of success.

 

Steven