Help

Protecting databases
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 452
• If you need to share a database file with others and provide varying levels of file access to
different users, you need to plan the security for the file. Follow the steps below to plan the
security you need for the shared file.
You can additionally protect a file by requiring authorization of any file that attempts to access its
tables, layouts, value lists, and scripts. See Authorizing access to files.
To plan the security for a shared file:
1. Determine the privilege sets that you need for the file.
Make a list of the areas of the file that you want to protect, such as particular tables, fields,
records, layouts, value lists, and scripts. Plan the number of privilege sets you need to enforce
the varying levels of file access that you require.
Note Each database file contains three predefined privilege sets, which may meet some or all
of your needs. See
Using the predefined privilege sets.
2. Determine whether you need individual accounts for each user, or group accounts that
multiple users can share.
3. Decide if you want to enable the Guest account, which permits users to open the file without
specifying account information.
See About the Admin and Guest accounts.
4. Create the privilege sets that you need in the file.
See Creating and managing privilege sets.
5. Determine if you need to enable any extended privileges for certain privilege sets.
If you want certain privilege sets to be able to open a shared file over a network as a client,
access the file from a web browser via FileMaker WebDirect, or access a file as an ODBC or
JDBC data source, you need to enable extended privileges for certain privilege sets. Don’t
enable extended privileges unless they’re needed.
6. Create the accounts you need in the file, and assign the appropriate privilege set to each
account.
If you’re using the Guest account, assign a privilege set to it as well. Otherwise, disable the
Guest account. See
Creating and managing accounts.
7. Test each privilege set to make sure it restricts file access the way you want.
Open the file using different accounts and test each privilege set that you created. Make sure
the restrictions work the way you want, and make any needed corrections to your privilege sets.
8. Optionally limit other files from accessing the schema of your files by use of the File Access
tab.
See Authorizing access to files.
Additional security tips
Though accounts and privilege sets provide good database protection, they are not a 100% secure
solution. You should take other reasonable measures to protect access to your files and information,
and not rely solely on FileMaker
Pro access privileges. For example:
• If you host FileMaker Pro databases on a computer that is shared over a network, use
operating system level security settings and passwords to restrict folder and file access to
authorized personnel only.
• Set the screen saver feature of your operating system to require a password in order to
wake up the computer from the screen saver.