Sharing Your FileMaker Pro Databases Over the Internet

In the last post we talked about sharing your FileMaker Pro databases over your Local Area Network (or LAN). But what if you want to access your databases outside your LAN?

The Easy Way
The easiest way is to get an Internet plan from your phone or cable provider that comes with an IP Block. This is a set of IP Addresses that you can assign to your host so you can access it over the Internet. This is not as cheap as your regular broadband plan but is the most straightforward, once you get to deal with your ISP. Make sure you get them to assign your host with a Public IP Address, and note this down.

Once everything is set up. Go to your computer over the Internet, open FileMaker Pro, and do the following steps:

1. Click FILE > OPEN REMOTE...
2. Click FAVORITE HOSTS drop down menu beside the word VIEW.
3. Under the HOSTS box, click ADD...
4. Type the IP Address you noted down earlier and click SAVE. The host will now appear inside the HOSTS box.
5. Click the host that you added earlier, if it isn't yet selected.
6. Click the database under the list of Available Files, and click OPEN.
7. Enter your Account Name and Password, and your database should open.

You only need to do steps 3 and 4 once. You can skip them when you quit and run FileMaker Pro again.

The Not So Easy Way
Normally, your broadband connection would have a DSL modem or cable modem. This is the box where your phone or cable line is plugged. You'll most likely have another box called a broadband router (or Airport Extreme, Airport Express, or Time Capsule), which shares the connection through your LAN or through Wi-Fi. Sometimes though, your Internet Provider will just give one box that has a modem and router.

Since most Internet plans will only have one Public IP Address (the ones you have on the LAN computers are Internal Private IP Addresses), you'll need to be able to forward Port 5003 from the Public IP Address to the Private IP Address of your host. Once you do this, you'll just need to note down the Public IP Address of the Internet connection, and do steps 1 to 7 above.

The port forwarding may be a little tricky since you may have to configure the modem, the router, or both. Note that the term used by other modems or routers may be NAT (Network Address Translation) or Virtual Servers, and configuration may vary across devices. You may also have to call up your Internet Provider to assist in configuring this.

In some cases, some providers may be blocking port forwarding depending on the broadband plan you have and/or your location. You may want to consider upgrading to a plan that supports it or switching to another service provider that does.

Before You Start
You'll see a lot of benefits to having your databases online through the Internet. In the next post, we'll tackle the factors you need to consider when setting this up to make sure that your access is as fast and secure as possible.