Hosting databases
 
Hosting databases
Note  The following information is for server administrators and group administrators.
Before you can share FileMaker Pro database files, it’s important to prepare the files for hosting. The steps below provide an overview of the process.
1. Edit the accounts and privileges sets that clients will use for shared access. See Editing accounts and privilege sets.
2. Upload the database files to FileMaker Server. See Uploading database files using FileMaker Pro.
3. Verify the status of your files on the Activity > Databases tab, and verify that the files are available to FileMaker clients. See Verifying databases are available to FileMaker clients.
Notes
FileMaker Server 16 supports these clients: FileMaker Pro versions 14, 15, and 16; and FileMaker Go versions 14, 15, and 16. Note that clients running FileMaker Pro versions 14 and 15 and FileMaker Go versions 14 and 15 cannot use FileMaker Pro 16 features.
You must convert files created in FileMaker Pro 11 and earlier (.fp7 files) to the FileMaker Pro 12 format (.fmp12 files). See FileMaker Pro Help.
If a hosted database is designed to access data from an external SQL data source, you must set up the same ODBC data source name (DSN) on the FileMaker Server master machine as was set up on the machine running FileMaker Pro when the database was created. See Accessing external ODBC data sources.
If a hosted database uses plug-in files or you want to allow the Install Plug-In File script step to update server-side plug-in files, then you need to set the Server Plug-Ins settings. See Managing plug-ins.
You cannot use FileMaker Pro peer-to-peer database hosting on a FileMaker Server machine.
As FileMaker Server opens files that were not closed properly, FileMaker Server performs a consistency check on each file and logs the result of the check in the event log. See Event log.
Up to 125 FileMaker Pro database files can be hosted on FileMaker Server and automatically opened when FileMaker Server starts.
If you are a group administrator, your server administrator must configure your administrator group to allow you to upload databases to your group folder. For more information, contact your server administrator.
Related topics 
Administering databases
Closing hosted files
Administering clients
Viewing server statistics
Sending messages to FileMaker clients in the Clients list
Enabling the Install Plug-In File script step to update server-side plug-ins