Purchase and install an SSL certificate on the FileMaker server.Ī certificate for your FileMaker Server can be purchased from LuminFire. There are a few steps that need to be followed for this method. If you open a hole in your firewall, you need to make sure that you do so in a secure way. If you know anything about network security, there should be alarms going off in your head right now. It involves opening a port on your router/firewall between the outside world and your FileMaker server. This is the preferred option, as it provides the easiest access for our developers to work on your system. Option 1: Native remote access via port 5003 We’ll go into the details of what is required for each option, and our preferences.

Remote desktop access to a workstation on your network.

Native direct access to FileMaker Server via port 5003.

There are three main options for providing remote access, each with various benefits and trade-offs. If you hire us to build or enhance your FileMaker app, that someone is us. But at some point, someone will need access. That’s another conversation, so we won’t judge you too harshly now.

Another possibility is that your app doesn’t have a proper security model, so it shouldn’t have outside access. It could be that your users don’t need (or you don’t want them to have) access to the system when they aren’t on-premise. Perhaps you just like maintaining your own server hardware (we can respect that). Maybe you have a very large, complex system, that demands local network speed, or it is an older system that isn’t build on current best practices, so it doesn’t scale well. While an increasing number of business are moving their FileMaker custom apps to the cloud, there are still valid reasons for self-hosting with your own on-site FileMaker Server.

This article will outline what you need to enable secure remote access for your on-site/on-premise FileMaker Server for your users and developers.

Filemaker pro server port forwarding