First - forget Alias - it is a shortcut that has little meaning outside
the local machine you are on. This is an area that Intebase is both too
clever and stupid at the same time.

You need a full path to identify the database you are going to talk to
'full stop'

The machine name identifies which one to talk to, and the full path
identifies the file to use. As interbase will run on a number of
operating systems, it does not care what flavour of machine it is
talking to, as long as TCP/IP protocol is used. That is the clever bit.

The stupid bit is there has not been agreement yet on a common basis for
using an Alias in place of the path name. It's on the wish list.

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Lester Caine
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L.S.Caine Electronic Services