FAQ: Claris FileMaker 2026 Remote Backup & Standby Server

Remote Backup and Standby Server are optional add-on services for FileMaker Server 2026 designed to strengthen business continuity and disaster recovery.

They’re independent but complementary. Remote Backup solves data recovery; Standby Server solves business continuity.

• Remote Backup automatically sends backups of your FileMaker Server data to cloud storage, so you have a safe offsite copy if your local environment is compromised.
• Standby Server installs a secondary FileMaker Server that stays in sync with your primary server, so your business can keep running during a planned or unplanned outage.

They are for businesses and developers running on-premise FileMaker Server (on Mac OS, Windows, or Ubuntu Linux) who want enterprise-grade reliability features without enterprise costs or complexity.

Business continuity ensures your custom apps hosted with FileMaker Server stay operational during unexpected events. It combines backups, disaster recovery plans, and standby infrastructure to reduce downtime and protect critical business data.

Yes. Local backups allow faster restores for common issues like a brief electricity outage. FileMaker Server Remote Backup protects against site-level risks, and Standby Server is ready at the flip of a switch if your primary server goes down. All work together to improve resilience and ensure business continuity.

Remote Backup automatically stores offsite copies of your FileMaker databases in Claris-managed cloud storage.

It is designed to safeguard your data if your local environment, hardware, or local backups are compromised (e.g., by a ransomware attack).

• Fully managed by Claris – Reduces IT overhead.
• Off-site protection – Safeguards against hardware failure or disaster.
• Faster recovery – Minimizes downtime and data loss.
• Secure storage – Aligns with compliance requirements.
• Peace of mind – Know your data is protected and recoverable.

FileMaker Server Remote Backup automatically copies your files to secure, Apple-managed cloud infrastructure every 20 minutes. If your primary server fails, gets encrypted by ransomware, or is destroyed in a disaster, your data remains safe and ready to restore.

This keeps storage requirements much lower than creating a complete backup every time.

No. Remote Backup complements, not replaces, regular local backups.

Best practice is to have:

• local FileMaker Server backups for for everyday issues (such as an end-user accidentally deleting data)
• Remote Backup for offsite disaster recovery

By default, the rolling incremental backups are kept for 30 days before they are automatically deleted on a continuous rolling schedule.

Yes. You can select a backup in the console and choose Preserve Backup. Preserved backups remain in your storage in perpetuity and are excluded from the 30-day auto-deletion policy until you manually delete them.

When you restore a file via the console, FileMaker appends _Restored and a timestamp to the file name.

Example: Inventory_Restored_2026-07-01_14-30

Not currently. All databases in the hosting folder are backed up. You cannot select individual databases.

Disconnecting a drive is straightforward via a “Disconnect Drive” button, and status updates to “Disconnected” in both consoles. You can later reconnect the same or a different FileMaker Server to it.

Deleting a drive is permanent: any files still stored on it will be permanently removed. Claris recommends downloading any required backups before deleting the drive.

Yes. It uses the same cloud technology and falls under the same certifications as FileMaker Cloud (including SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 compliance). If you enable FileMaker’s Encryption at Rest (EAR) on your individual files, you achieve end-to-end encryption.

Recovery after a disaster is only part of the equation, and staying operational during an incident is equally critical. Standby Server maintains a ready-to-go copy of your entire FileMaker environment. If your primary server goes down, you can switch over in minutes, with minimal disruption.

• Near-continuous access – Keep critical FileMaker applications running.
• Reduced impact – Minimize operational and financial impact from outages.
• Simple setup – No complex, custom failover setups required.
• Stronger continuity – Enhance your overall business continuity strategy

An initial full copy of files is transferred to the standby machine before incremental changes are captured.

By default, the sync interval is 5 minutes. This means in an unplanned outage, your maximum data loss exposure is typically limited to the last 5 minutes of data. This interval can be customized in the settings from 1 to 99 minutes.

Yes. SSH is used to transfer database changes between the primary and standby servers.

When the primary server goes down (or you initiate a planned switchover):

1. You log into the Standby Server’s Admin Console.
2. Click the Switchover button.
3. Optionally sync one final time before switchover.
4. The Standby Server is promoted to the Primary role.

Important: You must update DNS to point users to the new primary server.

No. Switchover is currently manual.

Automatic switchover is actively being developed.

Yes. It is an excellent tool for planned outages. If you need to perform server patching, OS updates, or hardware maintenance on your primary machine, you can smoothly swap roles to the standby server with minimal downtime for your users.

Yes. Once the connection between primary and standby is re-established, it resyncs.

No. The servers can be on different networks or in different locations, as long as they can connect to each other (e.g., via VPN tunnel) .

Yes. A special Standby Snapshot role is available for virtual machine snapshot deployments.

This allows administrators to skip the initial database transfer because the files are already present in the VM snapshot.

The switchover is one-way: the Standby Server becomes the Primary. If you want to make the original primary server the standby again after it’s restored, you would go through the configuration process again (setting its role to Standby).

Yes.During switchover, the promoted Standby Server can continue using the Remote Backup drive that was previously connected to the primary server.

No. Both solutions are fully managed by Claris and integrated into the FileMaker Admin Console, so your team can focus on running the business instead of managing infrastructure.

Consumer sync tools aren’t designed for server-grade recovery. FileMaker Server Remote Backup is built for FileMaker Server 2026 and managed by Claris for security and reliability.

Yes. Both features require FileMaker Server 2026 and one of the following eligible license types:

• Annual Volume License Agreement (User or Concurrent)
• Perpetual FileMaker License (User or Concurrent) with an active maintenance contract

These add-on services aren’t available for:

• Perpetual licenses without Active Maintenance
• Solutions Bundle Agreement (SBA) license contracts
• FileMaker Developer’s License
• ETS License
• Finished Goods License
• Not For Resale (NFR) licenses

No. Both are optional annual add-ons. You can purchase one or both services.

Yes. They’re sold as optional add-ons for FileMaker 2026, and you can purchase one or both services. To improve your organization’s resilience, an optimal business continuity plan includes a local server, remote backup, and a standby server.

Customers with active FileMaker Server licensing, including:

• Starter
• Max
• perpetual licenses with active maintenance

You must be running FileMaker 2026.

These features are not available for FileMaker Cloud.

Contact us to purchase these add-ons.

It is available wherever FileMaker Cloud is currently supported (including data centers in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, and Japan):

Bahrain, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, India, Israel, Kenya, Kuwait, Lithuania, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania.

Your backup location is determined by your billing address, with the closest data center selected automatically.

Yes. Configuration requires access to the Claris Customer Console, which requires a Claris ID.

To access your FileMaker Server license:

• Sign in to the Claris Customer Console using this URL: console.claris.com
• Sign in with your Claris ID. If you don’t have one, click “Create your Claris ID.”

The license owner must first set up access. The license owner is the person whose email address is associated with the purchase agreement.