Improving FileMaker Server Security by Filtering which Databases are Displayed to Users

1. Log into FileMaker Server Admin Console.
2. Select ‘Database Server’ in the left hand list.
3. Click on the ‘Security’ tab
4. In the File Display Filter area, click on ‘List only the database each user is authorized to access’ option

Without the filtering turned on, any user logging in will see the complete list of databases hosted on this FileMaker Server.

Apologies for all the blurred out parts of the screenshot above, but these are real clients. Hopefully you can get the idea, the 1) Host databases are in the list on the left and the databases are displayed in the 2) Available Files on the left. An unfiltered list would display all the databases on the host server.

Turning filtering on limits the databases the user can view to just those to which they have a password.

Note: If a user does have access to more than one database, but needs to see them all, make sure that they are using the same user name and password in all databases to ensure they show up in their filtered list, when the server Filtering is turned on.

When Database Filtering is turned on, one of the downsides is that the user is faced with a dual login procedure.

The first step establishes your credentials and allows the database server to determine which database you have a right to view.

Note: Add to Favorite button will create a short cut to this file, avoiding the dual login process.

The second step, the user is actually logging in to the database.

Fortunately there are a couple of ways around this dual login. The first is to click the Add to Favorites button in the first screen with the database is first being opened. The second method is to employ the ‘Open Recent’ command instead of the ‘Open Remote’ command from the File Menu.