Moving forward with FileMaker 17, the FileMaker Server Command Line Interface (CLI) will play a more prominent role in how we interact with our server. You can only access some settings no longer available through the Admin Console through the CLI or the new Admin API. (Learn more in the tech briefs here.)
Helper Tools in the New Admin API
We are already exploring plenty of new helper tools to take advantage of the new Admin API and create nice-looking user interfaces to augment the standard Admin Console. You can even expose settings and configuration options that may seem a little hidden.
In a pinch though, when you are logged into the FileMaker Server machine and need to check or set some of the options, know that the CLI has a pretty decent built-in help.
To get a list of all the available commands for instance type in the folllowing as shown in Figure 1:
This will give you all of the commands available as shown in Figure 2:
To get more help on any of these commands, type in the following:
fmsadmin help <the command you are after>As an example, let’s look at the new GET command. This command allows us to see many of the current FileMaker Server settings, including default settings (see Figure 3).
Figure 4 shows what this will get us:
Based on what we see in this help section, we can now issue this command as shown in Figure 5:
This allows us to see the settings in the ‘serverconfig’ area as shown in Figure 6:
Get Comfortable with the FileMaker 17 CLI with Helper Tools
If you are unfamiliar with the CLI, then hopefully these help options will allow you to quickly find what you need.
Leveraging New Features in FileMaker 17
As always, post your questions to the FileMaker Community Forum. My team and I are can lend a helping hand.
If you have any questions about how to benefit from other new features in FileMaker 17, please contact our team. We’re happy to help your team determine the best way to leverage new functionality for your FileMaker solution.
