In my last post I mentioned that servers at my work are typically scoped to the local LAN and have no access to the Internet. This can cause problems with software that needs to download pre-requisites during installation.
If you try to install FileMaker Server on Windows while disconnected from the Internet, you’ll get a message like the one below:
You might wonder what is ARR and why do I need it for FileMaker Server? According to Microsoft:
Microsoft Application Request Routing (ARR) 3 for IIS is a proxy based routing module that forwards HTTP requests to application servers based on HTTP headers and server variables, and load balance algorithms [1].
This allows IIS to forward requests to Apache Tomcat which is used to run the Admin Console as well as WebDirect and Custom Web Publishing.
In order to fix this issue, we’ll have to install ARR manually. There are a few ways to obtain the ARR install package and pre-requisites. All of these require a computer that is connected to the Internet. Once you have the files however, you can just copy them to your server.
- ARR 3.0 Stand-alone package (IExpress) x64. This is ARR 3.0.1952 along with it’s pre-requisites in one installer. This is what I am going to use and would recommend.
- Erez’s IIS Blog – Installing ARR manually without WebPI has download links and instructions for installation. One thing to note is that the “Web Farm Framework” is no longer required with ARR 3.0.1952 (which is the version you want for FileMaker Server 15).
- You can run the FileMaker Server installer on a computer that IS connected to the Internet and copy the installers out of the directory where FileMaker downloads them, which is
C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Web Platform Installer\installers - You can download them from the same location the FileMaker Server installation package does: Request Router 3.0, Rewrite Module, External Disk Cache.
Because ARR is intended to be used with IIS, we need to make sure that IIS is installed before running the ARR installer.
To install IIS we need to use the Add Roles and Features Wizard. The wizard can be launched from the Server Manager by going to Manage -> Add Roles and Features, or from the Programs and Features Control Panel Applet by clicking on Turn Windows features on or off as shown below:
The first dialog you will encounter will look like the one below:
You can just click on the Next button until you arrive at the Server Roles screen:
We want to install Web Server (IIS) so check the box next to the entry in the list. When you check the Web Server (IIS) box you’ll be see a prompt like the one below, just click on Add Features.
To continue, click on the Next button. Continue clicking past the Features screen (you don’t need to change anything here) and Web Server Role (IIS) screen until you come to the Role Services screen.
I’m going to set up IIS the same way the FileMaker Server installer would if it had access to download ARR. It’s up to you if you want to add extra Role services, but you should at least include the ones checked in the images below:
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For reference, here is what you should check:
Under Web Server – Common HTTP Features
- Static Content
Under Web Server – Application Development
- CGI
- WebSocket Protocol
Under Management Tools
- IIS Management Console
After you’ve checked all the options you’d like to check, click Next and you should be at the screen below:
Click Install to begin the installation.
Before we can install ARR we’ll need to stop the IIS service. Open up an elevated command prompt (find Command Prompt on your computer, right-click and choose Run as administrator) and type the following command:
net stop was /y
Your screen should look similar to the screen below:
Once you’ve stopped the IIS services, you’re ready to install ARR!
Browse to where you’ve placed the ARR install file(s). I placed mine in C:\FMS_Install:
If you downloaded the ARR 3.0 Stand-alone package (IExpress) x64 installer, double-click the file to launch it. If you’ve downloaded the pieces separately or got them from a different FileMaker Server install you’ll need to run them in a certain order. You can view that order on Erez’s IIS Blog.
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This is what you should see in Programs and Features after ARR is installed:
If you don’t see IIS URL Rewrite Module 2, Microsoft Application Request Routing 3.0 and Microsoft External Cache installed, then something went wrong. Most likely you did not have IIS installed before running the ARR installer.
At this point in the process I usually reboot the server, but you could also just restart the IIS services using either the Services Control Panel Applet or the IIS Management console.
Now that IIS and ARR are installed, we can install FileMaker Server!
I find the FileMaker Server installer runs best if it is stored on the C:\ drive and if you right-click and choose “Run as administrator” even if you are already logged on as a member of the Administrators group.
From this point on the process is the same as any other FileMaker Server install so I’m not going to go through every screen, but here are a few where you might want to make changes.
We’re doing a single Machine install, but if you were doing a Multiple machine install you’d want to do all of the steps above on the Worker Machine first, and then the Master Machine.
Changing this next section is optional. We usually leave it just using the Local System account. One reason you might want to run as a specific user is to give FileMaker Server the ability to read from or write to shared network storage or a mapped network drive. The Local System account will only have access to read from and write to local drives.
Starting with FileMaker Server 14 you have the ability to change the ports used by the Web Server for web connections. If you want to use IIS to run other websites you can either change the ports FileMaker Server uses, or change the ports your other websites use. Since FileMaker recommends that you run FileMaker Server on a dedicated server, I’d recommend leaving the defaults here.
Since we have IIS setup to already use ports 80 and 443, you’ll see the dialog below pop-up. Just click on Disable Websites.
The next item we’re concerned about is Bonjour for Windows. I’m sure many IT professionals have an opinion about Bonjour and whether it is necessary or if it is a security risk and you can Google that to read all about it. Bonjour is Apple’s multicast DNS protocol (mDNS) which allows FileMaker Server to broadcast its presence across your network for clients to pick up on. This is how the Local Hosts feature of FileMaker Pro works. Since we don’t want users to be able to discover our FileMaker Server but also don’t want FileMaker Server to log an error message and send us an email every time it starts up complaining about Bonjour not being installed, I’m going to install Bonjour and then later disable the Windows Firewall rules that apply to it.
After the Bonjour install you’ll pretty much be finished. The only thing left is to run the Deployment Wizard, which I’m not going to go through here.
And that’s all there is to it! Let me know in the comments below if you have any questions!
[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=47332