Administrator’s Guide

Chapter 7
Scheduling administrative tasks
You can use the FileMaker Server Task Scheduling assistant
(Windows) or Schedules (Mac OS) to define three kinds of tasks and
set the times that they execute. You can:
1 schedule database backups
1 run script files
1 send messages to clients of hosted databases
A new scheduled task is enabled by default, which means the task will
run at its scheduled time after you close the Schedules window. For
more information about enabling and disabling scheduled tasks, see
page 58.
You can define up to 50 schedules in FileMaker Server. If you set up
schedules that overlap, FileMaker
Server starts the first task and holds
the next task in a queue. When the first task has completed, the next
task will begin.
You can perform many actions related to scheduled tasks from the
command line interface in Windows or Mac
OS. For more
information, see
“Using the command line to automate tasks” on
page 54. You can also use utilities such as the Scheduled Task Wizard
(Windows OS) or cron (Mac OS command line interface) for running
automated tasks similar to those provided by FileMaker Server.
Note See Help for step-by-step procedures concerning defining and
managing scheduled tasks.
Scheduling database backups
You can:
1 back up all hosted open databases
1 back up hosted databases that are in a selected folder
Database backups are saved in the default backup folder or in a folder
that you specify. To set the default backup folder, choose
Properties
menu
> Default Folders (Windows) or Configure menu > Default Folders
(Mac
OS).
During backups, FileMaker Server copies the database while it is
active and users continue to make modifications. When the copy is
complete, the database is paused to synchronize backup files with the
current database and then the database is resumed.
The destination disk that stores your hosted files and backups must
have plenty of free space. If the hard disk runs out of space while a file
is being modified or if a database file reaches the 8 Terabytes size
limit, the file will be compressed.
If the hard disk runs out of space during a backup, the backup stops,
the backup file is deleted, and FileMaker
Server logs an error in the
Application log (Windows) or Event.log (Mac
OS). You should check
the schedules list for error conditions, which are reported in the
Last
Run
column. To avoid running out of disk space when backing up files,
choose tape or a different hard disk as your backup destination.