Thanks alot for the input.

Some design issues of concern to us involve how the database is
installed:

-we would like to not require super-user/Administrator priviledges
for installation.

-we would like to install to a central cluster without having to
upgrade connected machines.

Some issues also concern execution:

-We would like to not make assumptions about the state of the server
on start-up and we want to completely terminate all application
components on exit.

These requirements are somewhat of a paradigm shift from the standard
generalized database model, we realize, but If we can do the above
without major modification to the source code that would be most
helpful to us. Currently it seems that:

-The InterBase Server can only be started (even in manual mode) by
the Interbase user or root on Unix or through control panel services
or the InterServer configuration utility on NT.

-There is no cross platform utility to start and stop the server as a
non-priviledged user (non Administrator/root/Interbase user).

If anyone can confirm these last items that would be very useful
information for me to pass on to my fellow developers.

Thanks for your help,

George Buzzell
Coventor Corporation

And also some issues

--- In ib-support@y..., Paul Reeves <paul@f...> wrote:
> "Leyne, Sean" wrote:
> >
> > George,
> >
> > I would, personally, recommend that you simply leave IB running
in the
> > background and not try to stop and start it as required.
> >
> > Running the engine in the background will have an imperceptibly
small
> > impact on system/processor utilization.
>
> I'd have to second that - on NT the memory footprint is just so
small that it is
> not worth the effort of worrying about. For *nix I would recommend
using the
> Classic architecture. The inet server will start and stop InterBase
> automatically.
>
> Needless to say, I would recommend the Firebird distribution for
either
> platform.
>
> Paul
> --
>
> Paul Reeves
> http://www.ibphoenix.com
> taking InterBase further