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How to host Filemaker Pro database on a remote desktop or terminal server

HOSTING FILEMAKER SERVER (database) AND FILEMAKER PRO (client) ON HOSTED SERVERS

Riptide Hosting provides servers with Dedicated Windows Operating System environments for you to host FileMaker 15!!!  See our FileMaker hosting page on our website at http://www.riptidehosting.com/FileMaker-Hosting.aspx

IMPORTANT UPDATE – The End-User License Agreement for FileMaker Server 15 requires each customer to have their own software license and no longer allows hosting providers to offer shared hosting.  Hosting providers that were offering one FileMaker Server database to many clients are no longer be able to offer that.  We provide a dedicated Windows Server operating system environment for you to load FileMaker on.  The server is dedicated to you (in fact, you can load other programs and applications on the server(s) if you wish at no extra charge).  FileMaker has also changed their licensing model/pricing which you can see at this link:  http://store.filemaker.com/

 

We often get the question “How do I install the FileMaker Pro client and the FileMaker Server database on a remote desktop or terminal server?” Often people want to install the FileMaker Pro (client) and the FileMaker Server database on a remote desktop/terminal server.   FileMaker does not support or recommend installing the FileMaker Pro client and FileMaker Server (database) together on a terminal server.  The recommended solution is to use two servers that have a private/backend connection between them.  The backend connection allows all the traffic between the servers to be on a fast and private 1 Gig per second connection.  (Using the client on a local PC with the database on a remote server will work but your experience will suffer due to much lower network speeds and higher latency). 

Other people ask if they can install the FileMaker Pro database on a hosted server and access the files via FileMaker Pro clients installed on local computers.  Most likely this implementation will result in slow response.  Your result may vary and you can always start with this implementation and add a Remote Desktop/Terminal server for the client install if you need a faster solution. You should review the requirements for your particular version but you can see below that the minimum requirements for FileMaker Server are 2 CPU cores and 4g RAM.  For FileMaker Pro, the hardware requirements depend on the number of users expected, usage concurrent, etc.   Having two servers helps spread the load placed on the servers and each can be upgraded as needed. You may also want to consider using FileMaker WebDirect to connect via a browser from your phone, tablet, PC, etc.

http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/pro-15-specifications.html – FOR VERSION 15

http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-server/server-15-specifications.html – FOR VERSION 15

 

Riptide Hosting can provide you with a dedicated server(s) solutions to host your FileMaker Server database and FileMaker Pro client.  For a small number of users (typically less than 10 users), virtual servers with dedicated IPs and private/backend connection, and Windows Operating System is a great hosting solution.  For more than 10 users, a dedicated server solution provides a faster experience often for a lower price per user.  Contact us if you would like to review the hosting options, pricing or, licensing.