FileMaker Server 18 Stability Improvements

Dimitris Kokoutsidis 8 mins0

Claris Support blog

Source: https://support.claris.com/s/article/FileMaker-Server-18-Stability-Improvements?language=en_US

A small number of customers have experienced stability issues with FileMaker Server 18, resulting in occasional crashes. There are a number of actions you can take to improve stability.
 

  1. Make sure you have applied the latest updater for FileMaker Server 18. Our updaters generally address known issues and are always a good place to start.

    See updaters.
     
  2. If you continue to experience unexplained stability issues, try turning Startup Restoration off. We are aware that, under certain circumstances, Startup Restoration may become a factor with FileMaker Server 18 stability.

    Click here for instructions on how to turn off Startup Restoration.

    For more in-depth information on Startup Restoration, please see our white paper.
     
  3. Disabling startup restoration: Startup restoration is enabled by default. However, the process of creating the restoration log can impact performance. If performance is a concern, you can disable startup restoration using the CLI command: fmsadmin set serverprefs StartupRestorationEnabled=false. You can also enable or disable startup restoration using the FileMaker Admin API. See FileMaker Admin API Guide.

Answer Number: 000034865

Products

  • FileMaker Server
  •   18.x

Source: https://support.claris.com/s/answerview?anum=000029421&language=en_US

FileMaker Server Startup Restoration Feature

IMPORTANT: A small number of customers have experienced stability issues with FileMaker Server 18, resulting in occasional crashes. There are a number of actions you can take to improve stability. Click here for more information.
 

FileMaker Server includes a startup restoration feature. At startup, before databases are opened for client access, FileMaker Server validates database entries. If databases have inconsistencies indicating that they were not properly closed, startup restoration uses a restoration log to restore the files to their last consistent state.

Understanding startup restoration

FileMaker Server creates a restoration log for hosted databases, which can help recover files after a hardware or software failure. In database management system terms, FileMaker Server uses physiological logging for database transactions to ensure that data updates are valid and consistent.

At startup, before databases are opened for client access, FileMaker Server validates database entries. If databases have inconsistencies indicating that they were not properly closed, startup restoration uses the restoration log to restore the files to their last consistent state.

The restoration log contains data for all hosted databases. You cannot enable or disable startup restoration for individual databases.

Important  Startup restoration is not a replacement for database backups. In certain conditions such as disk corruption, FileMaker Server will not be able to use startup restoration and you can only restore databases from backups.

Page Locks

  • Uses individual disk page locks instead of whole tree
  • Only relevant pages are locked
  • Enabled other threads to continue on their paths unhindered
  • Increase in performance in concurrency scenarios
  • Enabled by default, is disabled when startup restoration is disabled

Transaction Log

  • A transaction log “Restoration Log” keeps track of the completeness of all transactions (one per server machine)
  • Includes the transaction type, ‘before and after’ values, status of commit
  • Increases processing overhead (but its worth it)

Monitoring startup restoration

Restoration Log Manager is the runtime server component that manages logging of database changes. This component is started after the FileMaker database engine is started. Information about the Restoration Log Manager is written to the Event.log file.

Disabling startup restoration

Startup restoration is enabled by default. However, the process of creating the restoration log can impact performance. If performance is a concern, you can disable startup restoration using the CLI command:

fmsadmin set serverprefs StartupRestorationEnabled=false

You can also enable or disable startup restoration using the FileMaker Admin API. If you change this setting, you need to restart FileMaker Server for the change to take effect.

FileMaker Admin API Reference – hosted at https://<your.FileMaker.Server>/fmi/admin/apidoc/

Notes:

  • Content in the restoration log is encrypted if the corresponding database is encrypted.
  • For encrypted databases without saved encryption passwords, startup restoration runs at the time the server administrator specifies the encryption password, before the database is opened for client access.
  • Changes to embedded container data are included in the restoration log; changes to external container data are not included.
  • By default, the restoration log is written to the following folder:
    • Windows: [drive]:\Program Files\FileMaker\FileMaker Server\Data\Restoration
    • macOS: /Library/FileMaker Server/Data/Restoration

You can change the folder location using the FileMaker Admin API.

NOTE: The startupRestorationLogPath parameter specifies the folder path for saving restoration logs. For best results in case of a hard drive failure, change the restoration log folder location to a separate disk drive.

If you change this setting, you need to restart FileMaker Server for the change to take effect. This parameter cannot be an empty string or a string of whitespace characters.

Dimitris Kokoutsidis

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