> >> Only
> >> in 1 situation an error was found : While updating 300,000 records with
> >> forced write ON, after killing the process and trying to connect to the
> >> database again, the connection was accepted and NO error message was
> >> reported, but when the user tried to access the table that was being
> >> updated the system freezed.

1) What version of InterBase were they using? Probably not a V6
superserver, I'd guess.

2) When they said that the system froze, did they mean that it didn't
respond to their process or that the server stopped running - was it
using cycles, memory, and disk? Unless I am very much mistaken, the
server was running furiously and doing lots of I/O.

3) Dropping the table would correct the problem if it was a massive
garbage collection. And (97% probability) it was. The fact that there
was no error and that the problem arose when the much updated table
was touched both point to garbage collection.

4) What did they have for indexes on the table in question? Did they
try deactivating the indexes? (Why would they?) For those interested,
deactivating the indexes can reduce garbage collection time by a factor
of 100 or more.

Regards,

Ann
www.ibphoenix.com
We have answers. And opinions.