Anyone experiencing any new issues?
In fix-list won't say if Restoration feature fixed - does anyone know anything (at least as far as I can read)??
I'm trying to get clarification. There was a lot of under-the-hood stuff fixed. I do know that. Whether StartupRestoration was a part of that, we don't know for certain yet.
In the notes it states that there is support for apache tomcat. I do not really understand what that is. I see that it is an alternative for iis? Why would that be needed?
it's the web server on Mac - not used on windows (for Web direct)
thanks - it would be extremely helpful if more explained what exactly preciously has been fixed or altered to know what to look out for ..
Apache Tomcat is a webserver, in that respect it is the same as IIS. Under the hood it is java based and allows for java servlets. If you ever see a web site delivering *.jsp pages, it -may be- a Tomcat application.
No, data restoration is not fixed. Still turn it off and leave it off.
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Thank you Wim. That is where we were at also, just hoping.
Not really a "tomcat application" (still a Java application) since there are lots of other "application servers" that will run JSP pages. Apache Tomcat is just an awesome, free, app server used by millions. 
thanks Wim - does a new install of FMS18v4 turn it off per default?
I'm in the process of installing one, I'll let you know...
Yes, it is still enabled by default when you do a new install with the full 18v4 installer.
thank you for the update!
they missed 4 opportunities with this release:
- fix the bug
- turn it off via updater
- set the default to off on new install
- document the issue by disclaiming that it hasn't been addressed or so ..
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In fairness:
on #1: they're working on it but apparently it is not so easy to fix without breaking a lot of other stuff. I can tell you that they are not ignoring it.
on #4: https://support.filemaker.com/s/article/FileMaker-Server-18-Stability-Improvements?language=en_US
(but I certainly wish they'd use stronger language)
#2 and #4: yes, missed opportunity. Certainly with the full installer for v4, I actually fully expected it to install it defaulting to off.
I, a little, kind of, understand not making a behavior change like that in the same version...referring to #3 - turning it off by default. I would expect that with 19, it will be off by default, unless they are able to work it out by then. But as Wim said, it's likely going to take them some time to make all of the changes necessary. They are doing a lot to get this right.
@WimDecorte - I voiced my concerns about the language, as well. Hopefully it gets adjusted. It is a relief that they are taking it seriously.
If a server has been running fine for about half a year with it turned on, are people suggesting that it nonetheless be disabled?
No, just carefully monitor the logs for issues. Assuming that in these 6 months your load has been typical. If you it wasn't and you have a big increase in load in the foreseeable future then I would turn it off.
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I don't know what people suggest - I would be cautious and don't take the risk of corruption in case a failure occurs and the feature might kick in attempting to do what it has been designed to do but apparently lacks reliability ..
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I will add to this, we had one server crashing every tuesday, about 10 mins into staff scanning inventory. Two users, one scanning about 10-20 items per minute. It crashed the data file every time. The script that was running just did a find on a stored text field, and set one field to a new value, and commit.
The last time it crashed, it wouldn't open. After recovery, 85% of the tables were gone. Most of the fields no longer in the remaining tables. All but 5 of the layouts gone. All scripts gone.
That was under a fairly low load. So I'm currently operating under a StartupRestorationEnabled=false order on all servers.
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