Using FileMaker in the Enterprise

FileMaker in the Enterprise

There’s so much new innovation in the FileMaker area these days that it’s hard to keep up and easy to miss what’s happening:  Web integration, cloud services, new versions, new techniques, new custom functions…the list keeps on growing.  And this change is happening rapidly.

One such area seeing rapid growth is FileMaker in the Enterprise:  Cloud based services offering enterprise scalability and reliability. Last fall, FileMaker released their cloud version called FileMaker Cloud.  FileMaker Cloud is the first commercially released Linux based FileMaker product, and is available only an Amazon Web Services Linux server.  FileMaker spent quite a bit of time making it easy to get started with this service by combining the FileMaker software purchase into the AWS console, literally making it possible to buy licensing and set up a server in less than 1/2 hour.

FileMaker on AWS

Amazon Web Services also offers, to anyone interested and with some technical know how, Elastic Computing Services (EC2) and a long, long list of supporting services, such as storage (S3), databases, network and content delivery, migration, developer tools…the list goes on and on.

In addition to FileMaker Cloud, it’s possible to run FileMaker server on an EC2 instance (an instance is, essentially, a server running the way you want it configured).  In fact, once you get used to the process, setting up a server this way takes about 1/2 hour, as well.

And once you get started on the cloud, all of Amazon’s services are at your beck and call.

Infrastructure as a Service

Mike Duncan of Soliant Computing offers a look into using Amazon Web Services to build infrastructure as a service:  Setting up a Load Balancer server to switch automatically between two (with more possible) FileMaker Servers.  And, as a kicker, both FileMaker machines are connected to a MySQL server.  Certainly not a project for beginners…but it is fun to see it in action:

Source:  FileMaking Hosting Info and More Fun with Amazon Web Services

Clustering and Replication

Jesse Barnum of 360Works also uses AWS in his video below.

In this instance, however, he is using a Load Balancer to direct traffic to multiple services with MirrorSync doing the work of replicating the data between the servers:

Both of these videos show FileMaker servers working in an enterprise environment with replication, load balancing, and clustering. And granted, setting these up is not for the faint of heart. But is also does not require a degree in computer science.  And the end user benefits by having faster, more reliable servers able to grow and shrink as demand dictates, offering the best at the least possible price.

The FileMaker world is moving ahead at high speed, and it’s fun to part of it.


Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.

Mark Twain
US humorist, novelist, short story author, & wit (1835 – 1910)

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