From what I can glean from the documentation and experimentation, the
only way you can ensure that Interbase uses TCP/IP to connect to
remote databases is to use the format:

machinename:/drive-letter/databasename

in the connect string. If you don't it seems to use NetBEUI, which is
very slow. The problem with this comes when you try to open databases
which are on a remote server. You can see the files from your local
machine and you have the UNC name. However, it's not possible to get
the full local pathname on the server remotely unless you have admin
rights on that server because of the NT security model.

This is a nuisance and means that you have to start thinking about
installing extra services on the server just to do the name
translation. Interbase is already running there, so it couldn't it do
it? Or is it already possible?

Jason Poynting