System script schedules: running shell commands from FileMaker Server

Intermediate

Use System Script schedules to run OS-level shell scripts or commands on the server machine on a schedule.

What you'll learn

How to create a System Script schedule in Admin Console
What user context shell scripts run under on each platform
How to handle errors and log output from shell scripts

A System Script schedule runs a shell script or batch file on the server machine itself — not inside FileMaker. This lets you automate OS-level tasks like syncing backups to cloud storage, sending alerts, or running maintenance commands alongside your FileMaker schedules.

1/3

Create a System Script schedule

Go to Schedules → New Schedule → System Script. Provide the full path to the script or executable. On macOS/Linux this is a shell script (.sh); on Windows it is a batch file (.bat) or PowerShell script (.ps1). Set the frequency and start time as with other schedule types.

TEXT

#!/bin/bash
# /opt/scripts/sync-backups.sh
# Runs as the fmserver OS user

SOURCE="/opt/FileMaker/FileMaker Server/Data/Backups/"
DEST="/mnt/nas/filemaker-backups/"

rsync -av --delete "$SOURCE" "$DEST"

if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Backup sync failed" | mail -s "FM Backup Alert" admin@example.com
fi

File encryption at rest in FileMaker Server FileMaker Server admin accounts and file account security