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MirrorSync Basic Setup

Table of Contents:

MirrorSync Basic Setup

MirrorSync is an elegant synchronization product that can sync between any combination of FileMaker Pro, FileMaker Go, FileMaker Server, SQL database (MySQL, Oracle, SQL Server, or any database that supports JDBC), Salesforce, Amazon DynamoDB, and Amazon RedShift. For mobile devices, users can sync the hosted file with their FMGo or Pro clients, go off network to make changes, and sync again when a connection is available. For servers, MirrorSync allows a database to run in multiple locations, or to integrate different databases and make sure that changes to each server are reflected in the other server.

MirrorSync is only installed on the server computer(s). It is not a plug-in, and does not require any software installation on client devices.

MirrorSync is usually easy to set up. The only required database changes are:

  • Enabling the fmrest extended privilege in your security configuration
  • Making sure that every table you want to sync has a primary key, modification timestamp, and creation timestamp. If your database is created with FileMaker 17 or later, these fields are included by default.
  • Creating a new layout for each table you want to sync.
  • A few copy and paste operations.

Why use MirrorSync?​

  • For mobile users who access the database with FileMaker Go on their iOS device, MirrorSync allows these users to work efficiently with limited or no connectivity to the server network. Each user can take a local copy on their iPad or iPhone, input the information from the field, and then sync when they regain a network connection. Depending on their workflow, they could even specify a one-way sync where their information is pushed to the server, but no data is pulled down, or vice versa for users who need fast read-only information.
  • For remote users who work on laptops, MirrorSync solves the problem of how to work productively on a hosted FileMaker database, regardless of network speed. If, for example, you have multiple users connecting to FileMaker Server over a wide area network (WAN) you could notice a substantial slowdown, as every change is immediately written back to FileMaker Server. MirrorSync allows each user to take a local copy of the database which would run on the user's machine and not be affected by the WAN performance. The user could sync when they first came into the office, work on their local copy throughout the day, and sync at specified times (or on demand) to push and pull the latest data to the server.
  • MirrorSync is a great solution when server uptime must be maintained. By installing MirrorSync on two computers running FileMaker Server, you can have your main production server constantly syncing with a backup server with a one-way server-to-server sync. In the event that the production server goes down or suffers database corruption, the backup server will be ready to immediately take over.
  • For groups of users at multiple locations, MirrorSync should be used in server-to-server mode, where an identical copy of the database is installed on FileMaker Server in each location. Each workgroup works at full LAN speed on their own FileMaker Server, and MirrorSync uses a bidirectional sync to take care of keeping the servers in sync with each other, so that each workgroup can see and edit changes made by the other group. In this configuration, MirrorSync should be set to sync very often, such as every 30-60 seconds.
  • To maximize performance and reliability, MirrorSync can be used in a clustering configuration, where two or more servers are running at the same data center and synchronized bidirectionally so that they all contain the same set of data. This means that each server only needs to work with 1/2 or less of the total users, and if one server goes down, the other server can take over the entire workload seamlessly. Here's a 23-minute video demo of this.
  • For integration with non-FileMaker databases, MirrorSync is the simplest and most efficient way to accomplish this. For instance, if you have an online storefront running with MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, or DynamoDB at a remote data center, but you need to have instant access to all the orders in a database running on FileMaker Server, MirrorSync can selectively sync certain SQL tables to FileMaker, even if the table and field names do not match. In this configuration, MirrorSync should be set to sync fairly often, such as every 5-10 minutes.

Requirements​

  • Server:
    • Windows Server 2012r2 or later / Mac OS X 10.12 or later / Linux running Tomcat 8 or later
    • FileMaker Server 19.6 or later is required, FileMaker Server 22.x is recommended for access to all new features.
    • FileMaker Cloud is not supported, because it cannot support all MirrorSync features (See our advanced documentation 'Does MirrorSync support FileMaker Cloud?')
    • 3 gigabytes or more of RAM. 8 gigabytes or more are recommended for large databases with hundreds of thousands of rows, or for more than 10 simultaneous sync operations.
  • Configuration utility (only run by developer / administrator):
    • OS X 10.8.3 or later, or Windows Server 2012v2 or later.
    • FileMaker Pro 19 or later
  • Sync Client:
    • Mac or Windows with FileMaker Pro 19 or later (22 is recommended) OR
    • FileMaker Go 19 or later (22 is recommended) running on iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch

MirrorSync With Hosting Providers​

MirrorSync supports hosting provider installations of MirrorSync.

If you'd like 360Works to host your FileMaker databases please visit 360Works.cloud; we offer automated creation of FileMaker Server instances and a dashboard with an array of ways to control and configure your servers. We also offer a free pre-configured MirrorSync instance with every FileMaker Server instance that you host with us; this eliminates the need to set up and maintain your own syncing server.

Here is a complete list of companies that have indicated that they are willing to configure their servers to host MirrorSync. If you'd like to be added to this list, please contact us at support@360works.com.

The following companies support MirrorSync, but only in dedicated (not shared) configurations:

If you are a hosting provider, read the Installation for Hosting Providers section in the advanced documentation page.

Technical Overview​

MirrorSync is a web application, installed on a server (typically on FileMaker Server). A FileMaker script that is pasted into your FileMaker solution uses the Insert from URL script step to communicate with MirrorSync. The Data API is used during configuration, and to trigger the sync script on FileMaker Server. Because the Insert from URL script step is used for most data transfer, the amount of bandwidth used by the Data API is negligible.

For FileMaker Pro/Go sync, users run the sync by triggering a regular FileMaker Script in the solution. For server-to-server sync, the syncs are run using the MirrorSync Configuration Client and can be scheduled to run in the background at regular intervals. For more ways of triggering Server to Server syncs, see the advanced documentation covering this subject.

There are no plug-ins or other software to install on users' devices.

Three ways to get started with MirrorSync​

We've setup three ways for you to try MirrorSync:

  • Live demo (time to sync: Less than 1 minute): If you would like to see MirrorSync in action without needing to install anything, you can download our live MirrorSync demo database by clicking the yellow button titled 'Try live demo now' from the main MirrorSync page. Just open the file in FileMaker Pro or Go, make some changes, and then hit the sync button. To see how MirrorSync works between multiple devices, use that same download URL on a different device and sync away! Be aware that the data in this file is shared with everybody who downloads it, and also that it resets every night at midnight EST, so don't put anything important in this file.
  • Sync using the Tasks template (time to sync: Approximately 20 minutes): Using the tasks starter solution that comes with FileMaker Pro, we provide a step-by-step video walkthrough that you can follow along with. This 13-minute video starts with creating a new FileMaker database and goes through setup and sync. Just watch the video for each step, and pause while you do it on your own file. You can watch the video on YouTube.
  • Configure your own file for syncing (time to sync: 30-60 minutes for most solutions): Follow the instructions below to configure MirrorSync with your own FileMaker solution.

To Demo and Purchase​

See the 360Works MirrorSync page to download a demo of 360Works MirrorSync, view pricing, or purchase it.

A quick guide for developers new to MirrorSync - FM Server to Pro/Go Client Sync​

Note:

Some of this information only applies to setting up a FM Server to FM Pro/Go client sync. We will write a similar section for Server to Server configurations in the future.

  1. Get a MirrorSync license key.
    • A single free Server to Client configuration and device are provided to you with each license, to allow you to test. You can add to this license at any time by clicking "Add to existing MirrorSync 6 license" here.
  2. Download the MirrorSync installation package to your desired syncing server (Windows, Mac, or Ubuntu). This can be any location as long as there is two-way network access between your MirrorSync server and your FM server, and as long as your client devices can connect to it. Most people install it on the same FileMaker server that hosts their hub database.
  3. Run the relevant installer file. If you're installing on Linux you should consult this documentation.
  4. At the end of your installation, a URL will either be displayed to you or be opened in a browser automatically; visit that URL and click "Download MirrorSync Configuration Client". This will download the config client, which is what you'll use to log into your MS server to set up and monitor syncs. This config client can be used from any location, not just from the MirrorSync server, assuming the MirrorSync server can be accessed from where the client is.
  5. Run the configuration client, and log into your MirrorSync instance using the external URL of the MirrorSync instance (http(s)://yourServerAddress/MirrorSync). This should be the same URL that was in the browser (or command line) at the end of the installation.
  6. A configuration dialog should appear. Register your license by clicking the licensing button and inputting/validating the license key that you got in step 1.
  7. Start setting up your first config by clicking the + button in the top left. This config wizard will give you detailed and dynamic instructions based on your particular solution.
  8. After the config is complete and saved, add a syncing button in a spot where it makes sense for your users' workflow, and attach the "MirrorSync 6 (YourConfigurationName)" script to it.
  9. In the configuration client, highlight your new config and click "Download Database>Create Link". Choose "Full Copy" and "Client Side", at least for now. It will copy a URL to your clipboard; save this URL somewhere where you can find it again.
  10. Download the database to your client device using the link you got in step 9.
  11. Start an initial sync from the client device by clicking the sync button you created in step 8.

Installing / Upgrading​

MirrorSync has a standard OS X and Windows installer included with it. Just double-click the installer for your platform and follow the instructions. Be aware that if you re-install FileMaker Server at some point in the future, you may need to re-run the MirrorSync installer in order to set the web server settings correctly. If you are running into other issues during installation, please go over our troubleshooting documentation here.

MirrorSync can also run on Linux. See the instructions here on how to install it.

Or, for a quick, standard Ubuntu installation you can use the following script to install the latest version of MirrorSync and its dependencies.

This script updates apt, openjdk-17-jre-headless, tomcat9, and tomcat9-admin; these are required dependencies of MirrorSync. If you already have these installed and don't wish to update them, customize this script to meet your needs.

#!/bin/bash
read -p "Enter MS username: " USERNAME
read -s -p "Enter MS password: " PASSWORD
echo ""
read -p "Enter MirrorSync Download URL [press Enter to use store version]: " DOWNLOAD_URL

# Default to store version if no URL provided
if [ -z "$DOWNLOAD_URL" ]; then
  DOWNLOAD_URL="https://secure.360works.com/360Store/WebObjects/360Store.woa/wa/ProductDownload/mirrorsync"
  echo "Using default store version URL: $DOWNLOAD_URL"
fi

cd ~
# install openjdk and tomcat
sudo apt update
sudo apt install openjdk-17-jre-headless tomcat9 tomcat9-admin -y

# download MirrorSync and navigate to the installation package directory
wget -O MirrorSync.zip "$DOWNLOAD_URL"
unzip MirrorSync.zip -d tmpMirrorSyncDir
cd "$(find ./tmpMirrorSyncDir -maxdepth 1 -type d -name "360Works MirrorSync*" -print -quit)"

# make the installer executable
sudo chmod +x LinuxInstaller.sh

# install MirrorSync silently with the specified username and password
sudo ./LinuxInstaller.sh --silent --username "$USERNAME" --password "$PASSWORD"

# cleanup
cd ~
sudo rm MirrorSync.zip
sudo rm -r tmpMirrorSyncDir

Preparing your database for use with MirrorSync​

  • If you have a multi-file solution (i.e. separation model or migrated from older FileMaker version), make sure that there is a single main file with external table occurrences referencing the other files. If you are using a separation model, this should be the data file. When you distribute spoke files to your users, you will distribute the entire set of files, which will include the main sync file.
  • Be sure that the fmrest extended privilege is enabled in your solution for all accounts that will use MirrorSync. Choose this option under File > Manage > Security… Double-click the FileMaker user, and choose Edit… from the Privilege Set.
  • Make sure that every table in your solution has a primary key. This is a unique identifier which cannot be empty, and should never be changed once the record is created. MirrorSync can work with traditional serial number primary keys, UUID primary keys, or custom primary key strategies. For a deeper discussion of how primary keys are handled when syncing, refer to 'Primary Key / Serial Numbers' in the advanced documentation.
    • Do NOT create new primary keys for use with MirrorSync**, unless you have tables that do not already have primary keys (read the 'primary key considerations' link for an explanation)
  • If you are using an auto-entered calculation for your primary keys (such as Get( UUID )), be sure to UNCHECK the field options checkboxes that say 'Do not replace existing value of field'
  • We highly recommend for your primary keys to have the 'not empty' and 'unique' validation option enabled; this will help MirrorSync auto-detect your primary keys and help to prevent duplicate records.
  • If your solution uses serial numbers as user-visible data for things like job numbers, check numbers, P.O. numbers, or invoice numbers, refer to the section 'User-visible serial numbers' in the advanced documentation.
  • Every table (including join tables) must have a timestamp field which is set to auto-enter a modification timestamp, as well as a creation timestamp field which auto-enters the creation timestamp. If you will have users with direct online access to FileMaker Server who are not in the same time zone as the FileMaker Server, you will need to set up special host modification timestamps as outlined in the 'Time zone considerations' section of the advanced documentation. This requirement does not apply to spoke users in different time zones, who access the server via MirrorSync.
  • Please remove or rename fields that have a backslash ( \ ) in the name. These fields are incompatible with MirrorSync.
  • Host the database on FileMaker Server. Open the file from the server with FileMaker Pro Advanced, using a full access account.
  • Create one form-view layout for each table you want to sync. The standard name format for these sync layouts is Sync_TableName; if configured to do so MirrorSync will dynamically "sense" layouts with the prefix "Sync_" and will begin to sync them.
    • If you want to sync all fields in the table, then it makes no difference which fields are on this layout - leaving it blank will work fine. If you only want to sync certain fields, then include every field you'd like to sync on each layout, and select "Sync only fields on layout" while setting up your configuration
    • Note that this layout must be a form-view layout. List and Table view layouts may result in unexpected behavior; specifically it can lead to MirrorSync syncing all fields in that table regardless of how that table is configured.

Integrating MirrorSync Into Your Solution​

Here are the steps to integrate MirrorSync into your solution:

  1. Install MirrorSync. You can install MirrorSync on any Mac, Windows, or Linux computer whether or not it is running FileMaker Server. During installation, you will create a username and password that will be used to administer MirrorSync. If you choose to install MirrorSync on a computer other than your FileMaker Server, you will need to also install an extra copy of MirrorSync on your FileMaker Server if you want to use the 'download link' feature for easy distribute to spoke users.
  2. After installation, you will be taken to the MirrorSync home page. This is located at https://yourServerAddress/MirrorSync, or in some cases, https://yourServerAddress:42424/MirrorSync. Keep in mind that you can open this page and proceed with the rest of the integration process from your own computer - you don't need to remote desktop to the computer where MirrorSync is installed. From the home page, click the blue 'Launch MirrorSync Client' button.
  3. To log in to the configuration client, the server address should match the URL you used to reach the MirrorSync home page to download the configuration client in the previous step. You can copy and paste this value from the browser into the server address field. Use the username and password you created during installation to log in to the config client, and then follow the setup instructions in the config client. You can follow this video which walks through a simple configuration setup for more guidance.
  4. After completing the setup, if you will be syncing with FileMaker Pro or Go, you will need to distribute spoke copies of your solution to your users. Click the 'Download Database' button in the config client and choose either 'Download' for quick testing on your own computer, or 'Create Link' for deployment to end users.
  5. Once you have created a spoke copy, run the 'MirrorSync 6' script to do the initial sync, and then run it again whenever you want to sync with the server. If you'd like to, you can add a button somewhere on the layout for users to run the sync easily.

Distribute spoke copies to your users​

There are a few ways to do this. Here they are, in order of what we recommend:

Launcher file​

After your configuration is complete, click the 'Download' button in the MirrorSync config utility, select the appropriate options, and a URL will be put onto your clipboard. Open the MirrorSyncLauncher.fmp12 database (this comes with the initial download of MirrorSync) and paste the clipboard contents into the field at the top of the layout. Now you can email this database to your users, and when they open it, it will automatically download a copy of your database from FileMaker Server onto their device. Opening the launcher file a second time will not download a new copy; it will detect that your database has already been downloaded and use that. This database allows full admin privileges without any password; you may want to lock it down before sending to your users. The launcher file can be used with the iOS App SDK to generate a packaged iOS app that can be distributed on the App Store. Note that if you're distributing a full copy of your solution, the launcher file will not download externally-stored container data. See the section in the advanced documentation on how to handle this.

Download URL​

Very similar to #1 above, just distribute the URL directly to your users without using the launcher file. On iOS, this might be a bit more challenging for non-technical users because there are numerous steps and prompts to go through. You cannot use this approach with multi-file solutions; use the launcher file in that case.

Manual distribution​

You can simply make your own copy of the database and distribute using a file sharing service, direct download, etc. If you use this approach with a full copy of the database, be aware that the initial syncs will run more slowly with an old copy than a fresh one.

Distributing new versions of your application​

MirrorSync makes it easy to keep your spoke copies up to date with changes made on the server. If you're using the ability to sync all layouts starting with a certain prefix, you don't need to edit your configuration after you've added or removed new tables or fields. Just make sure that if you create a new table, you create a corresponding layout with a prefix that matches what you've configured.

Once you've made your development changes on the hub or development copy, modify the field 'DatabaseVersion' in the MirrorSync table (see screenshot below). By changing this value (to anything you want, as long as it's a different value than it was before), users will be prompted on the next sync to download your new updated solution file (screenshot below). If you're working on a separate development file (as opposed to directly on the production hub database), we recommend using 360Deploy to deploy your development copy to the hub. This works well in conjunction with MirrorSync. If you're using a separate mobile file, change the DatabaseVersion field in that separate mobile file, not the hub file. This auto-update feature will also work for FileMaker spoke databases syncing with non-FileMaker hubs, such as MySQL, SQL Server, or Oracle.

This feature also works for server-to-server syncs. Changing the DatabaseVersion field in the MirrorSync table notifies MirrorSync that it should replace the spoke database with a new copy of the database from the hub. During the configuration process, you can define an "update window", so that replacing the spoke database can be done after hours. By default, this update window is from 11pm to 3am.

Updating the Hub's DatabaseVersion from 2.0 to 2.1
A calculation dialog for the databaseVersion field demonstrating where the databaseVersion is set

When you change the value of the "DatabaseVersion" field, users will be prompted at the end of a successful sync to download the new version of the file.

What the spoke user Will See After their Next Sync
a dialog prompting the user to select whether they'd like to update their version

Users can choose "not yet" to continue using their current file or choose "ok" to update their file. If they choose "ok" then and updater window will open and the new file will download and automatically open.

Server side initial syncs​

MirrorSync download URLs can now run the initial sync on the server, and then download the already synced spoke copy to the user's device. This is much faster and more reliable for large, slow initial syncs.

To set this up, open the MirrorSync Config client, select the sync you want to generate a download link for, and click "Download Database". This will give you the option to disable a previously generated download link, create a download link for distribution, or download the database directly.

Download Database Dialog
A 'Download Database' dialog in the MirrorSync configuration client

To generate a link to distribute to your users, click Create Link. This will then show you the below dialog. Select either full copy or empty clone, whichever is appropriate for your sync. Select whether the solution syncing is single file or multi-file. Selecting Client side for initial sync will work the same as MirrorSync has always worked, users will download the file and the initial sync is run from their device. Selecting "Server" will trigger the initial sync before the file is downloaded from the browser.

Create Link Dialog
A 'Create Link' dialog in the MirrorSync configuration client

When users enter the Server side initial sync URL into a browser they will be prompted to enter in credentials for the FileMaker Database. This will ensure that only the records that they have access to are synced to the file.

If a user enters their email address, they will receive an email notification with a download link when the initial sync is complete. If they leave that blank, then their browser will wait in a loop until the sync is complete, and then immediately download the file to their device.

What the User Will See
an in-browser prompt for the credentials of the FileMaker database

If you chose the option in the configuration to use hub database credentials to log in to the hub database, then users will not get this prompt.

Configuration Option to Disable this Behavior
A configuration client dialog with 'Hub database credentials configured in previous screen' circled

Once authorized, the sync will start and there will be a delay while the initial sync runs before the file is downloaded.

Important Warning​

Note:

It is very important that once an initial sync has been completed on a file, that synced file MUST NOT BE SHARED AMONG MULTIPLE DEVICES. For instance, it is a very bad idea for an administrator to run the initial sync on a database file, and then email duplicate copies of that synced database to multiple users. It is OK to email that synced database to a single user, then run an initial sync on another database that has never been synced before, send that second file to a second user, and then repeat for each additional user.

A subtle way that this can happen is if an already-synced spoke copy of the database is placed on the FileMaker Server as the new ‘master’ database. When this already synced database is copied to each spoke user, that violates the rule about sharing already synced databases. If you do need to take a synced spoke copy and host it on the FileMaker Server for some reason, be sure to delete all the records in the MirrorSync table before anybody copies the database. This will help MirrorSync realize that this database should go through the initial sync process on the next sync, and be treated as a new unique copy of the database.

Seeing a history of all sync activity​

See Reporting sync activity with FileMaker in the advanced documentation for instructions on storing all sync activity into a FileMaker database which you can customize.

Advanced Topics​

This document should get you up and running with MirrorSync. However, there are many advanced features and customizations available, which are covered in the MirrorSync Advanced Topics page.

Getting help​

If you encounter any problems while syncing, please go to the MirrorSync homepage and click the link titled 'Send problem report and log files'. This will send us the sync log file, which is required to solve almost all issues. Be sure to include your contact info in the bug report so that we can get in touch with you.

Problem Report Location
The MirrorSync webpage, with 'Send problem report and log files' circled

Where to manually find MirrorSync logs​

If for some reason the bug report feature does not work, you can still manually submit your logs via email to support@360works.com. Please make sure to include a thorough description of the issue that you are experiencing in the email and then attach your logs. By default, MirrorSync logs will be located at:

Windows: C:\Program Files\360Works\Applications\logs

Mac: /Library/360Works/Applications/logs

MirrorSync logs follow the naming convention <instanceName>.<timestamp>.log so if your instance is called the default "MirrorSync" and the date is January 1st, 2020 then the logs will be called MirrorSync.2020-1-1.log. Be sure to get the log with the timestamp that correlates with when the issue was reproduced. In some cases your logs may be too large to email even when compressed. If that is the case, go ahead and send an email without the logs (include that you are sending them through the uploader on our website) and wait for the automated response back with your ticket number (starts with "HD"). Once you have that, you can upload your logs here. Please be sure to note your ticket number in the upload form.

There is an online discussion forum hosted by FMForums. Please look through the posts and see if your question has been posted before making a new topic.

If you have other questions, we have a dedicated support team that is ready to help. E-mail us at support@360works.com. If it's related to a sync problem, it's better to use the 'report a bug' link described above, since that will attach the sync log file.