Administrator’s Guide

Event log messages and troubleshooting C-5
Network problems
Symptom Suggested solution or explanation
A FileMaker Pro guest using IPX can’t find
FileMaker Server databases on the network.
Windows: Verify that IPX networking software is properly installed. Verify that the host and guest are using
the same frame type. Verify that the IPX/SPX network protocol (or both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX) is selected in
the Networking tab of the Properties dialog box. Verify that the 250 simultaneous guest limit has not been
reached.
A FileMaker Pro guest using TCP/IP can’t find
FileMaker Server databases on the network.
Verify that TCP/IP networking software is properly installed on the host and guest computers. In the Hosts
dialog box, click the Specify Hosts button and enter the host IP address. Use the DOS Ping command to contact
the host address and verify the network is working properly. Verify that the 250 simultaneous guest limit has
not been reached.
Windows: Verify that the TCP/IP network protocol (or both TCP/IP and IPX/SPX) is selected in the
Networking tab of the Properties dialog box.
Mac OS: Verify that the TCP/IP network protocol (or both TCP/IP and AppleTalk) is selected in the
Networking tab of the Preferences dialog box.
A FileMaker Pro guest using AppleTalk can’t find
FileMaker Server databases on the network.
Verify that the 124 simultaneous guest limit has not been reached. Also remember that AppleTalk is not
supported by FileMaker Server for Windows.
Problems on guest computers
Symptom Suggested solution or explanation
The FileMaker Server name does not appear in the
FileMaker Pro Hosts dialog box.
Hold down the Ctrl key (Windows) or Option key (Mac OS) as you click Hosts in the Open dialog box.
Sometimes with high network traffic, FileMaker Pro might not find the server on the first attempt. Holding
down the Ctrl or Option key forces FileMaker Pro to check the network for a longer period of time.
Windows: Verify that the FileMaker Server service is started in the Windows Services control panel.
On a TCP/IP network, you may need to specify the host IP address or name. Click Specify Hosts in the
TCP/IP Hosts dialog box, then type in the IP address or the name of the computer running FileMaker Server.
Guests using the IPX/SPX protocol can’t see
FileMaker Server databases.
This is generally caused by using an incorrect frame type on the server or guest machine. To change the frame
type on Windows, you must change the configuration of the IPX/SPX compatible protocol in the Network
control panel. See your Windows documentation for more details.
Guests receive Communication with the host was
interrupted and could not be re-established
message on
guest computer.
The guest has been disconnected from a database by FileMaker Server because the guest didn’t comply with
a request from FileMaker Server to close a database. Another reason communication between the host and
guest may have been disrupted is due to a hardware failure (lost network connection) or a software connection
time-out (no response from guest for a given period of time). The latter could be caused by a screen saver,
debugger, or processor-intensive operation.