Installation of FileMaker Server in pictures

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

Yesterday I installed yet another linux server and made screenshots for you.
Your language may vary on the dialogs, but the buttons should be in same place.

New VM in VMWare and I drop the CentOS 7 iso on it:

now I confirm it's CentOS 7 64-bit:

I uncheck easy installation and continue:

Not sure what BIOS, so I keep default:

Now I click done button:

Or you click customize button there in the middle and change CPU, RAM or disk space.

Now we boot it and press return for first menu entry:

may take a while:

welcome and pick a language:

this screen take a few seconds till all options are initialized automatically. We click the software button on the right to choose:

and here we pick server with GUI as I like to have a desktop on a VM:

and I pick the disk as destination:

and I enable the ethernet connection for VMware with the on/off toggle on the right:

we are online:

all set, so click install button:

wait

now I can set passwords for root and create an user:

User setup done:

you see message it's installing in the bottom?

Done. So press restart button on bottom right:

somewhere we have to agree to license agreement:

little checkbox on the bottom:

now click button on bottom right to quit configuration

Now login first time:

with my secret password

Let's pick a language again

and a keyboard:

we turn off location as it doesn't make sense for a VM:

Now we can click skip button on top right:

Setup done

This is desktop. We downloaded FileMaker Sever zip

unpacked and not going to Terminal, You can open a terminal with contextual menu. Just click on the desktop with right mouse button and pick terminal from menu. We cd in the folder and list files:

We run the sudo yum install command:

May ask for password and then may wait for lock on package database. This is blocked as long as some other background service looks to update packages.

Installation runs

Do I want to install? Yes, please.

It asks to pick a GPG key:

Installing packages:

Agree to FileMaker license:

and 0 for a normal server:

Next user name and password:

and a PIN:

Installation runs:

Waits for connection:

and done.

We can restart the server. Then double click the icon on the desktop to go to admin console.

We enter our secret admin/admin password:

Check the SSL certificate to use:

For a throw-away test server this is fine:

and done!

Now you can enable plugins in connectors settings tab and copy the MBS plugin in the right folder or use the script based installation.

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

If you need, you can get the CentOS ISOs here:

CentOS Mirrors List

you need version 7!

[Markus]

so cool! Thank You very much!

btw: Is there a way to update an existing, older version of fms?

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

You can install newer rpm over older server. I did that also.

[Torsten]

Great stuff. Thank you for the heads-up @MonkeybreadSoftware!

[WimDecorte]

But... really?? A desktop on a server?
We have a great chance here to fit in nicely with what IT departments expect. If FM devs are going to insist on having a desktop on a Linux server because it is easy, we will just go back to alienate those IT departments.
I would very strongly suggest we get comfortable with doing this with nothing but the command line. It's not that difficult; it really isn't.
We're working on a complete walkthrough with Claris.

[WimDecorte]

@Markus

btw: Is there a way to update an existing, older version of fms?

Updating FileMaker Server on Linux

[Torsten]

Thanks @WimDecorte. Looking forward to have a best practise documentation from Claris. Makes absolute sense for production environments.

[WimDecorte]

Not just for production servers, also for dev and test servers; the more you practice the easier it gets. And like I said; it's not that hard AND you can make your life a whole lot easier with good tools. For instance I use Termius since I have a bunch of Linux and IoT devices to log into; it syncs all my server settings across all devices including my iPad. And it has a snippet tool so that I don't even have to remember all the commands

[WimDecorte]

@MonkeybreadSoftware

get the CentOS ISOs here:

Get the Minimal ISO to start and work up from there. FMS installs everything it needs.

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

Yes, I install my local VM in VMWare on my MacBook Pro with GUI.
I like Drag & Drop of files from Mac to Linux.
And I like looking via GUI in the folders.

You may not use a GUI for a remote VPS.

[WimDecorte]

You can use drag and drop with Terminal when using the scp command as well. Or that tool I mentioned (Termius) has a built in SFTP UI to do the same.

I'll be hammering on this everywhere I see it: this is a golden opportunity to learn the tools of the trade and up your skills and do like your client's IT departments will want you to do.

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

Your blog article is excellent help:

How to Update FileMaker Server on Linux | Soliant Consulting

Thanks for that. For production, we usually have only command line access. But my Linux VM still stays with Desktop and also is used to try my Linux GUI apps made with Xojo.

[WimDecorte]

Thanks, Part 1 of that, the part where we talk about Linux in general and installing from scratch is longer and more detailed... that one will be released soon (waiting on some input from Claris)

[dbguy]

Thanks for doing this. Will help me navigate the new world of Linux!

As we know, the plan from Claris is to concentrate on Linux and eventually discontinue Mac/Win native Server so having some help to get familiar with Linux and VMs is so much appreciated!

[wizardconsulting]

Hi Wim -

Good to see some discussion of this here. I have set-up two VMs, one in Parallels and one in VMware, with CentOS 7, no GUI, and done the whole thing via the command line.

It got easier and easier the more I did. I also found that this installer is definitely specific to CentOS 7. For reference, I tried the following other Linux versions without success: CentOS 8, Fedora 33, & Debian 10. I did this out of intellectual curiosity without any expectations that it would actually work.

For reference, in CentOS 8 I was not able to install due to missing items and could manually install all of them except the Korean fonts. In Fedora, I was able to install the server but couldn't install some of the packages required to launch the server.

Getting back to Parallels and VMware, I ran into a few things and I'd be curious to hear your take on them.

First, could not get cut-and-paste between the Mac OS (Mojave) and the virtual machine to work with either Parallels and VMware. I had to manually install the respective "tools" programs for each. I did find out how to enable folder sharing which involved some extra steps, particularly with Parallels; VMware was easier to do for this.

It sounds like you're saying that Drag-and-Drop works. Is that accurate? I didn't think of that. I'll have to try that. Is it just as simple as dragging a file into the VM window?

Second, I could get the server up and running on my laptop, but couldn't find away to access the Admin Console GUI remotely on my desktop. I probably need to check my firewall.

I'll be looking forward to your detailed discussion of this.

Thanks,

Michael Frankel
President & CEO, Wizard Consulting Group, Inc.
Mobile: (310) 291-3419
Website: wizardconsultinggroup.com

[MonkeybreadSoftware]

I was happy to see that CentOS automatically got the package for VMWare installed, so the Drag & Drop worked directly.

[wizardconsulting]

Thanks, Christian. I'll check that out.

[WimDecorte]

@wizardconsulting

It sounds like you're saying that Drag-and-Drop works. Is that accurate? I didn't think of that. I'll have to try that. Is it just as simple as dragging a file into the VM window?

Not quite. I use Terminal on my machine and use the SCP command to copy files to the server. That way I can drag and drop files into my Terminal to get the proper path automatically filled in.

And with the main tool I use (Termius) I can use a drag-and-drop SFTP UI, both SFTP and SCP don't require me to install anything at all on the Linux box.

[wizardconsulting]

It appears that on my EC2 server, SCP is already installed. And from reading the SCP docs, it seems like SCP copies from one SSH host to another. Is that accurate? If so, that won't work because I don't have another SSH host to use (although I could just set one up).

Alternatively, I could just upload the files to an S3 bucket and use the AWS CLI to download the files to my server (or any server). Does that make sense?