kgdayau wrote:

> Any body got any recommendations/comments concerning how a Firebird 1.5

system will operate with over 100 users producing ten's of thousands of
transactions per day.


I think there are installations with more users and (possibly) more
transactions than you mention here. Some have been described on these
newsgroups, but I don't remember which and when.
Your choice of hardware (and OS) is important, of course. Even more
important is a well written app.

> I am specifying / quoting a job and am undecided what database backend

to use. I have another customer using a delpi app converted from
paradox/bde to IBObjects and Firebird 1.5 with aproximately 30 user which
works OK (much less transaction throughput. However transaction locking
can be an issue that I have yet to fully dealt with (it is much better than
it used to be and is almost acceptable in the situation it is in).


I hope he didn't just change the components and the database - using
desktop thinking with C/S will seldom give good results.

> I must have as little transaction contention issues as possible in this

new job. I have to convert this one from a delphi/paradox application (the
standard package) before extensively modifying the software. I am
considering using FIB plus instead of IBObjects this time.


I think it is easier to convert a BDE app to IBO than to FIB+. However, if
you feel more comfortable with FIB+ (or you just want to compare) it may
well be worth it.

> I have to assure the customer that the end result will be 100% reliable

with fail safe mechanisms in place. I am considering that I recomend a
backup database server (with a replicator addon product operating) that can
become the primary with only small amounts of configuration and a maximum
of about ten minutes from the I.T. staff (no dedicated DBA on staff). The
I.T. mentioned server clustering which I know nothing about.


You might also consider Nickolay's new backup feature (for Fb/2 ?).

> Any comments/recommendations/ notes of experiences are welcome. I am

considering whether I should recommend Interbase rather than Firebird. The
server will be a dual processer Xeon, running Win Server 2003 with separate
raid for DB and disk for OS - all SCSSI, RAM >= 1 GB.


Remember fast disks. 15000rpm. Currently, your second processor will
mostly be idle, but it is nice to have when running other tasks on the
server (e.g. backup). Since you'll probably be running SuperServer, 1GB is
ample.


--
Aage J.