FileMaker Server Soft Close

Bare Metals Servers require UPS Battery Backup . . .

This is part two in this series - here's the link if you've not reviewed the first blog post - FileMaker Prevention and Maintenance.

This solution and code are from a recent two part project to protect the FileMaker Server

• Host protected by UPS

• VM synced to Synology NAS

At the time of the project, I was unable to find any examples of the option to close the FileMaker files via the Admin API, hence I'm sharing the code here, for the Community.

In this case, the UPS is the APC Smart-UPS 1500VA /900W.

This UPS was chosen for it's feature to run scripts 'before' shutting down the OS.

Before shutting down the OS, we need to 'gently' close the files being published.

The NAS is the Synology RackStation RS1619xs+.

We've configured this NAS Server with 32GB RAM and 24TB of Storage. This is part two of this project to set up second offsite NAS Server.

Local Call.

When the FMS is running on the same OS as the APC Management Software, the FMS CLI function can be called directly.

fmsadmin close -m "Server maintenance in 2 minutes. Please save your work." -t 20 -u <username> -p <password> -y

Obviously, the reverse is required, to re-open the files, unless your process is the restart the FMS, with the correct configuration to open the correct files.

The FileMaker Server Command Line Reference can be found on the Claris website.

Remote Call.

In more complicated setups, the FMS may not be running on the same OS as the APC UPS configuration. In this case, we'll apply a custom PowerShell script to call the FMS Admin API.

PowerShell.exe -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "C:\<YourDrive>\CloseDatabases.ps1"

This is the power script code - the file has been zipped to allow sharing via this webpage.

CloseDatabases.zip

Download ZIP • 2KB

Again, the reverse to open files when back on power is required.

Both these scripts are provided under the Creative Commons Licence model and are provided as a proof of concept, without warranty or support.

Soft Close Take Away.

This is merely a 'short' example to demonstrate what can be achieved . . .