{"id":1254,"date":"2015-10-20T14:48:34","date_gmt":"2015-10-20T14:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/elbsolutions.com\/projects\/?p=1254"},"modified":"2022-02-03T11:24:35","modified_gmt":"2022-02-03T17:24:35","slug":"filemaker-hosting-options","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elbsolutions.com\/projects\/filemaker-hosting-options\/","title":{"rendered":"Filemaker hosting options"},"content":{"rendered":"

First,<\/p>\n[UPDATE: I think I am in the wrong business – I think I should no become a Filemaker hosting company. One can make some good $$] I have never seen software so easy to install and use as Filemaker Server. Open one port on your fire wall \u00a0(5003) and you have a hosting solution and very stable (you never touch it and it backs up and backs up etc. etc faithfully. Truely Apple software – do keep in mind as you read – that I am quite biased to doing it on your own. But I will try my best to be objective.<\/p>\n

However, if you have nightmares from other products and don’t want to worry at all, here are some links given some research I have conducted of hosts who do it all for you.<\/p>\n

Things to think about are (I would never do this – I would get my own server in hindsight)<\/p>\n

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  1. html or IWP hosting – do you want web clients?<\/li>\n
  2. do you want filemaker native ONLY clients?\n
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    1. what about iPad Filemaker Go clients. They are sold in bundles of 5<\/li>\n
    2. what about web users or Webdirect (assuming you have FM 12+) clients? It actually works quite well now (finally)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    3. do you want to use plugins or have the ability to add them?<\/li>\n
    4. do you need php code access for future expansion and customization?<\/li>\n
    5. how do you want to pay – monthly?<\/li>\n
    6. do you need server side script. If you want a script to run every night like sending emails etc. – add $5\/mo says one company. Every hour? add $10\/mo. What if you needed it every 5 minutes like mine which runs this or that and checks every 5 minutes kicking off this or that as required? CHA CHING – up goes the price<\/li>\n
    7. shared or your own dedicated cloud server? Well really – if you answer the questions above- this will determine if you are able to do it with a shared server.\n
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      1. Certain functions require your own dedicated host.<\/li>\n
      2. If it is virtual or not is not really that important – that is how they build the computers on their end<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
      3. can you brand yourself on these servers? On your own server, you can have people access ‘filemaker.mycompany.com’ for example.<\/li>\n
      4. I like hourly(8am – 5pm), daily and weekly backups. Most hosting gives daily<\/li>\n
      5. do you need odbc access? That requires FM Server advanced which is more money again.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        All these are factors in choosing and pricing an online hosting company. Remember that when reading this, I am spoiled as my clients all have their own internal servers and we do all sorts of weird and wonderful things, like auto-emails, auto excel integration, plugins into address books etc. So I am biased to having your own server. Keep reading anyways.<\/p>\n