Get (PersistentID)

Questions
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1

Hello Everyone,

Bit of a tough one I think. Using Get (PersistentID) on server via PSOS returns a value. The FileMaker Pro help text for Get (PersistentID) makes no mention of server.

My first question: Is the value returned by Get (PersistentID) reliable on server?

If yes, my second question: When does the server's persistent ID change? For example, on Pro, it's whenever Pro is reinstalled.

2

I have not heard of the Persistent ID changing on the server. Claris does not disclose the calculation method, but it is assumed that hardware components are used (e.g., motherboard or network adapter).

Jan

3

Discussion in the Claris community forums suggests that FileMaker gets it from the BIOS.

See is-the-persistent-id-still-persistent

4

macOS has a Hardware UUID, for example. It would be interesting to know if, when it changes, the FileMaker Persistent ID also changes.

ioreg -l | awk -F'"' '/IOPlatformUUID/ {print $4}'

Jan

5

See also SystemInfo.MacUUID function in MBS Plugin.

6

Thanks to everyone for your answers. I asked in two forums and received a variety of answers. I unfortunately don't have a definitive answer.

I need to uniquely identify a server. Doesn't seem hard but I also need to predict the number of support requests due to changes to whatever identifies a server. Many indicated ties to computer hardware but server is often installed in virtual environments.

That begs many questions:

  • Does a server reinstall change its persistent ID?
  • Does a server upgrade change its persistent ID?
  • Can a virtual machine restart change its persistent ID?
  • Can a virtual machine load balancer's activities change its persistent ID?
  • Can a hardware repair change its persistent ID?

I am luckily going to Engage shortly. I hope someone at Claris can give me insight into this.

As I said, thanks to everyone for your answers. I was certain this was hard ask.

7

just a bit out of the box: can't you identify the FM-Server by its SSL-Certificate? At least in my case that - or even the server name - would be unique...

1 Like
8

Nope! SSL certificates are not necessarily unique for a server. For example, a wildcard certificate can be used for multiple servers.

9

If I remember correctly, the persistent ID are queried from the OS, so I would expect that Claris uses the OS function to get the ID for each platform.
e.g. on macOS it should depend on the Platform UUID from Apple.

1 Like
10

Did you try using either of Get(HostName) and Get(HostIPAddress) ?

11

Neither Get (HostName) nor Get (HostIPAddress) are guaranteed to be static. An admin can change the host name at any time and IP addresses, even when static, can be changed by network admins.

I mean to lock a file to a host. I must assume that some admins will attempt to use that file on other hosts. I need a means to identify a host, ensure the identity cannot be duplicated and understand when the identity can become lost (for support reasons).

That said, the behaviour of the combination of Get (HostName) and Get (HostIPAddress) are predictable. That could be my ticket. Thanks Malcolm!

12

By my experience from the time I had to use it, each installation had a different ID.