Setting up a default backup folder
For scheduled backups, database backups are saved in the folder that you specify in the Schedule assistant. The default backup folder is the default that appears in the Schedule assistant when you create a scheduled backup task.
The default backup folder is also used by FileMaker Server when you run a BACKUP command that doesn’t specify a destination folder.
Important Do not put the default backup folder in the same folder as the databases to be hosted, or in a subfolder within that folder. Any databases in that folder are automatically opened when FileMaker Server starts. The backup folder also cannot be a parent or a subfolder of the default database folder, an additional database folder, the
progressive backup folder, or the Scripts folder.
To specify the default backup folder:
1. Click the Database Server > Folders tab.
2. On the Backup Folder, enter the full path to the location of the new default backup folder. The maximum length of the path is 255 characters.
• Windows: The path you enter must start with filewin:/ and end with a slash (/).
For example, filewin:/driveLetter:/folderName/
If you are using a network volume, the path you enter must have the server name.
For example, filewin:/serverName/shareName/folderName/
• OS X: The path you enter must start with filemac:/ and end with a slash (/).
For example, filemac:/volumeName/folderName/
3. Click Validate to ensure that the path you entered is correct.
When the path is found to be valid, the label changes from
Not a valid path to
Valid path. If the path is not valid, see
Tips for valid folders.
4. Click Save.
Notes
• FileMaker recommends that you specify a backup folder on a different hard drive than the one where the hosted databases reside.
• Changing the default backup folder on the Database Server > Folders tab does not change your existing scheduled backup tasks. Changing the default backup folder simply changes the default that appears in Schedule assistant the next time you create a scheduled backup task.
• You can select a backup folder on an ReFS volume; however, that volume cannot be a remote volume.
• You can store the data in a folder that is external to the database file. If you encrypt the database, the data in any related external container folders is also encrypted. FileMaker Server copies the data to a directory relative to the database folder.
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