Administrator’s Guide

40 FileMaker Server Administrator’s Guide
About the FileMaker Server 7 daemons
When installed, FileMaker Server creates the daemons
fmserver_helperd and fmserverd . These are owned by the user
fmserver and the group fmsadmin . The permissions for the two
daemons include Set User ID, also know as the SUID bit.
The daemons are started with the user id of fmserver and group id
of
fmsadmin.When these daemons are executed by the system or by
a user, these permissions allow the user or system to switch from the
current user id to the
fmserver id. This will happen automatically,
provided the user is in the
fmsadmin group, or is root. Otherwise, the
system will return an error indicating that the user doesn’t have
permission to execute the file.
About file system permissions
The fmserver_helperd and fmserverd daemons can only read and
write to the folders to which their privileges give them access.
FileMaker Server 7 is primarily installed in the /Library/ folder, since
it is normally run automatically by the system as a background
application. FileMaker consolidates the necessary files for
FileMaker Server in: /Library/FileMaker Server
7/, with the
exception of the FileMaker Server Admin application and
administration documentation.
The /Library/FileMaker Server 7 folder is owned by the fmserver
user id and the
fmsadmin group id. This means that the FileMaker
Server daemons can read and write to this folder. It also means that
users that belong to the
fmsadmin group can write to this folder.
FileMaker Server 7 folders in Mac OS
Folder Purpose Notes
/Library/FileMaker Server 7/
Data/Databases/
Primary database
folder
This folder and subfolders
must be owned by the
fmsadmin group.
It is important that any
databases placed in the
Databases folder or
subfolders are group
readable and writable.
/Library/FileMaker Server 7/
Data/Backups/
Default backup
folder
This folder and subfolders
must be readable, writable,
and executable by the
fmsadmin group
/Library/FileMaker Server 7/
Data/Logs/
Output folder for
Event.log and
Stats.log
Server administrators must
be members of the group
fmsadmin to be able to
read and delete log files.
/Library/FileMaker Server 7/
Data/Scripts/
Location for shell
and other script files
The administrator can
place any shell or other
script files that are to be
executed as scheduled
script tasks in this folder.
It is important that any
script files placed in this
folder or subfolders are
owned by the fmsadmin
group and are group
readable and executable.
/Library/FileMaker Server 7/
Extensions/Plugins/
Location for plug-ins
hosted by FileMaker
Server
It is important that any
plug-ins placed in the
Plugins folder or
subfolders are owned by
the fmsadmin group and
are group readable.