Problems seen by clients

The FileMaker Server name does not appear in the FileMaker Pro Hosts dialog box

  • Windows: Verify that the FileMaker Server service is started in the Services (Local) node.

  • You may need to specify the host IP address of the computer running FileMaker Server. In the FileMaker Pro Network Path dialog box, type: fmnet:/<IP address>.

Clients cannot see databases hosted by FileMaker Server

The firewall settings on the FileMaker Server machine may be blocking the display of databases to clients. See Ports used by FileMaker Server for information on which ports need to be unblocked in firewalls.

Clients receive "Communication with the host was interrupted and could not be re-established" message on client computer

FileMaker Server disconnected a client from a database because the client didn't comply with a request from FileMaker Server to close a database. Communication between the host and client may have been disrupted because of a hardware failure (lost network connection) or a software connection timeout (no response from client for a given period of time). The latter could be caused by a screen saver or processor-intensive operation.

Clients receive "servername is no longer available or the host capacity has been exceeded" message on client computer

FileMaker Server has shut down or you reached the maximum allowable connections of clients on FileMaker Server. Verify that FileMaker Server is running or increase the concurrent connections allowed on the Administration > FileMaker Licensestab.

Clients receive "Host capacity exceeded" message on client computer

You reached the maximum allowable connections of clients on FileMaker Server. To increase the limit set by your license, go to the Administration > FileMaker Licenses tab.

Clients receive "This action cannot be performed because the file is not modifiable" message on client computer (FileMaker Pro databases hosted by FileMaker Server on macOS)

Clients can't modify the database file because the database file permissions are incorrectly set. The operating system group fmsadmin must own the database file and have read and write access permissions. The Event.log will report "Opened database [filename] read only." (If the database file is not owned by the group fmsadmin, FileMaker Server will not recognize the database file and there will be no entry in the Event.log.)

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