All,

Scarily, I have just hit the same problem - I checked last night and found
the 259 distinct workstations had logged in that day - I had always
believed
this figure was higher, more like 300, but obviously not.

I do not have the luxury of N-tier - I have been a great advocate, very
publicly, that 2 tier works great for lots of users. We still get sub
second access to all of our clients, so I could see no reason why 400 users
would be fine. I stress we are 2 tier, so without replication we have no
real alternative.

So I am left with a site that has just stopped growing!

I mailed Paul Beach yesterday, but haven't had a response yet (not reall
given him time to respond).

Please could you keep me posted directly or via the groups.

When did you know about the problem and when did IB acknowledge it?

Cheers.

I hope a fix is round the corner.

JAC.

----- Original Message -----
> From: Andre Mostert <amostert@...>
> To: <interbase@...>
> Sent: 05/07/2000 3:55 PM
> Subject: Interbase connection limit and Support related Problems
>
>
> > Greetings to all on the list. First off I would like to apologise for
the
> > fact this list
> > is perhaps not the forum for this but we are desperate and neither Anne
> > Harrison or
> > Paul Beach have responded to our recent email.
> >
> > May I start by introducing both myself and the site I represent. My name
> is
> > Andre Mostert, I
> > am consulting to a health and fitness organization in South Africa
(Health
> > and Racquet Club Group).
> >
> > They are currently one of the largest chains of gymnasiums in the world.
> > Apart from South
> > Africa they have branches in Europe and Australia(+- 1 million members).
> The
> > last 3 years have seen them
> > undertake a major rewrite of their membership system.
> >
> > The initial rewrite was targeted at the South African arm of the
business
> > but with the eventual
> > intention of deploying it internationally as well. To this end and after
a
> > lengthy investigation it was decided
> > to deploy a centralised system, using Delphi, Midas and Interbase. It is
> > vital that I stress that as a company we are wholly
> > committed to Interbase and Borland's development tools. I have worked
with
> > all the big databases, some at DBA level
> > and I love Interbase.
> >
> > The developement of our application was outsourced to a software house.
At
> > the outset we communicated
> > with Interbase regarding the maximum number of connections that
Interbase
> > would support. They led us
> > to believe that +- 800 connections were possible provided they were not
> all
> > busy, ie some idle
> > connections.
> >
> > We then ordered an unlimited Interbase license as well as Solaris
hardware
> > (as recommended by our developers)
> > which set us back at roughly ZAR 2,000,000.00
> >
> > Earlier this year we began rolling our new membership app out after a 6
> > month pilot at one site.
> > We soon ran into problems which we at first attributed to a license
issue.
> > Several new licenses later
> > we were no better off and so decided to move to NT (the license appeared
> to
> > work). We now know
> > that neither Interbase on NT or Solaris can handle more than 256
> concurrent
> > connections and that the problem has
> > nothing to do with licenses. Interbase have acknowledged this to be
true.
> >
> > After a several emails we were informed that it was a problem and it
would
> > be fixed. On the 24 May I received email
> > from Ann saying they were almost done and she expected a build for us to
> > test on the 26th May. We received a build the
> > following week and it was nothing short of a disaster. Now instead of
> > refusing connections above 256 it simply would
> > core dump and throw everyone off. Since then we have been unable to get
> any
> > help from Interbase. They apparently wanted to
> > get ver 6 out first. Now even this has been delayed.
> >
> > We know that architectualy our app might not be perfect and the
developers
> > are hard at work reworking the middleware layer
> > to reduce the number of connections generated.
> >
> > Interbase should be able to support more than 256 connections. The most
> > disconcerting fact is that in the last two weeks we
> > have emailed Ann Harrison and copied Paul Beach twice just to ascertain
> what
> > progress has been made or when we can expect
> > resolution to our problem. We have not enjoyed the curteousy of a reply.
> We
> > realize that you are busy with ver 6 and probably
> > with preparations for the conference. We however are sitting with 18
> centres
> > on our new app, and the balance awaiting
> > resolution from Interbase and our software house.
> >
> > Ann we are committed to Interbase. We will help in any way we can. Vince
> and
> > I are even happy to come and work at
> > your offices if that's what it takes.
> >
> > Interbase is a great exciting product ,if you can safely stay below the
> 256
> > limit then use it. If not then you need to
> > look elsewhere or wait for resolution to this problem.
> >
> > If you are in South Africa and looking for a VAR then look no furter
than
> > Synectic Software (011-7894316). Vince and Ant
> > have been tireless in their attempts to assist us.
> >
> > Regards Andre Mostert
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Interbase@...
> > http://mers.com/mailman/listinfo/interbase
>