Starting or stopping FileMaker Server components
 

Starting or stopping FileMaker Server components

Admin Console allows you to start and stop the Database Server, the FileMaker Data API Engine, the Web Publishing Engine on a FileMaker WebDirect master or worker machine, and the XDBC Listener individually without restarting the master machine.

 

To

Do this

Stop the Database Server

1. Click the Configuration > General Settings tab.

2. For Database Server, click Stop Database Server.

3. Enter a message and a delay time, then click Stop Database Server.

Clients may see a dialog box with a 30-second countdown. If they click OK, they are disconnected immediately. If they click Cancel, they can continue working until the delay time is reached. Depending on the delay time, they may see subsequent dialog boxes until the delay time expires.

Important  If you specify a delay time of 0, then clients are disconnected immediately and they may lose unsaved work.

Note  When you stop the Database Server, you can only view the Database Server Status page. To use other Admin Console components, you must start the Database Server again.

Start the Database Server

On the Database Server Status page, click Start Database Server.

If the Database Server doesn't start, other server processes may need to be restarted first. See Starting or stopping the FileMaker Server service (Windows) or Starting or stopping FileMaker Server background processes (macOS).

Start or stop access via FileMaker WebDirect or Custom Web Publishing

1. Click the Connectors > Web Publishing tab.

2. Set Master Machine to Running or Unavailable.

Start or stop a FileMaker WebDirect worker machine

1. Click the Connectors > Web Publishing tab.

2. Set Worker Machine to Running or Unavailable.

To add worker machines to your FileMaker Server deployment, see FileMaker Server Installation and Configuration Guide.

Start or stop access via the FileMaker Data API

1. Click the Connectors > FileMaker Data API tab.

2. Set FileMaker Data API to Enabled or Disabled.

Start or stop the XDBC Listener

1. Click the Connectors > ODBC / JDBC tab.

2. Set ODBC / JDBC to Enabled or Disabled.

Important  When you start or stop a component, it may take some time before the state changes. The component may display a disabled state until the process completes.

Notes 

If FileMaker Pro Advanced is running, do not start any FileMaker Server processes. Stop FileMaker Pro Advanced, then start the Database Server. If this problem persists, restart your computer, then start the FileMaker Server processes before starting FileMaker Pro Advanced.

If the Database Server fails to start, check the Event Viewer (Windows) or Console application (macOS) for error messages.

If you have large files or files with many connected clients, the process of stopping the Database Server may take several minutes. If you encounter problems, disconnect clients. See Disconnecting clients from FileMaker Server. Also try closing hosted files. See Closing hosted files.

You can also stop and start these components from the CLI. See Using the command line interface for the fmsadmin start and fmsadmin stop commands.

If you need to start or stop the FileMaker Server service or background processes manually, see Starting or stopping the FileMaker Server service (Windows) or Starting or stopping FileMaker Server background processes (macOS).

Related topics 

Startup settings