I'm having a devil of a time getting FMS14 in good shape. I'm looking for help installing a certificate, but also including a couple of details in case they inspire any other good advice.

FMS is hosting my twenty databases and my organization's employees are reaching them without a hitch. It's also true that I can see a sample database via WebDirect. FileMaker customer support has told me that that means the software is installed correctly and there's nothing else they can do to help me.

It's also true that when I use Remote Desktop Connection to remote in to the terminal, I can administer FMS (because I'm effectively sitting in front of it) . . . but that I can't administer it from a browser window in my own terminal.

One of the browser errors I get involves Secure Connection Failed, so I'm hoping that an SSL install will solve the problem. I'm in over my head, though.

In the WinServer 2008 IIS Manager, I have generated & installed a self-signed certificate. In the same interface, I'm using the command Create Certificate Request to generate the CSR to send to GeoTrust. I have no idea what value goes in the field Common Name (which I guess would be a domain, right, if I were tied to DNS? Is it the terminal's MAC address?) I don't want to take a stab in the dark.

Check out this resource

Edited July 1, 201510 yr by Ocean West

That resource was terrific. Armed with that understanding, I've acquired a geoTrust certificate and am about to face installing it. Thanks.

I am also posting though to say that the heart of the problem seems to have been some level of corrupt installation. Once I uninstalled, did a system restore in Windows, manually reinstalled each of the Win updates for the last few months, then reinstalled FMS (this time identifying it via a subdomain, which advice I got from your video), the problems have disappeared.

 

So, never underestimate the value of just sitting there for three hours restarting and pressing 'Install.'