Administrator’s Guide

Scheduling administrative tasks with FileMaker Server 6-7
To access the command line interface:
1. Open an MS-DOS window using the Command Prompt icon
(Windows NT) or click the Start button > Programs > Accessories >
Command Prompt (Windows 2000).
2. At the command prompt, switch to the FileMaker Server 5 folder.
If you installed FileMaker Server in the default location, type:
cd c:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server 5
3.
Type fmserver followed by a FileMaker Server command and
any optional parameters and switches.
The following table contains examples of FileMaker Server
commands you can use.
For more examples, see the FileMaker Server sample files (installed
in the Examples folder in the FileMaker Server 5 folder) or use the
fmserver /? command at the command prompt to view a list of
available commands. For general information about using the
command prompt, see your Windows documentation.
Example: Backing up hosted databases on the command
line (Windows)
You can use the fmserver pause and fmserver resume
commands in the MS-DOS window, along with DOS commands, to
back up FileMaker Pro database files to another folder. To automate
this process, you can enter the commands described in a text file, and
then execute the commands using a Windows batch process.
fmserver resume [path] Resume activity on specific or all paused
FileMaker Pro files after they have been copied or
backed up. Useful with the NT Backup and Schedule
services. If no path is specified, all paused files are
resumed.
Use this command
To
fmserver start Start the FileMaker Server service and open all
multi-user FileMaker Pro files in the
FileMaker Server 5 folder (and subfolders one level
down).
fmserver start -s Start the FileMaker Server service without
opening any FileMaker Pro files.
fmserver stop -m “All
servers will be shut down in
10 minutes” -t 10
Send a custom message to guests and stop the
FileMaker Server service in 10 minutes. This
sequence closes all hosted database files.
fmserver open Open all multi-user FileMaker Pro 5 files in the
FileMaker Server 5 folder (and subfolders one
level down).
fmserver open
expenses.fp5 messages.fp5
Open the Expenses and Messages files.
Command syntax Description
fmserver open
“names and addresses.fp5”
Open the Names and Addresses file.
Note The filename in this example includes
spaces and therefore must be enclosed in quotes.
fmserver close Close all hosted FileMaker Pro files in the
default close time (five minutes).
fmserver close
expenses.fp5 -m “I’ll be
closing the Expenses file in
10 minutes” -t 10
Send a message to guests of the Expenses file
and close it in 10 minutes.
fmserver pause Pause all currently hosted FileMaker Pro files,
which restricts guest activity to all hosted files.
fmserver pause
expenses.fp5
Pause the Expenses file, which restricts guest
activity to that file.
fmserver resume Resume all paused files.
fmserver resume
expenses.fp5
Resume the paused Expenses file.
Use this command
To