From: "Jill Thomson" <jthomson@...>

>
> Because I'm not using Firebird, I've gorn and broke the thread :>)
>
> Thanks for the clarification, Helen. So are there any circumstances in
> which the use of localhost is desireable/essential?
>

Peter,

It is my understanding that the use of localhost is only necessary when you
have both local user(s) and remote user(s) connected to the same database at
the same time. If you have single users, then you can either use local mode
or the machines' name or localhost. I prefer using the computer name at all
times and this has worked for me so far.

> I spent some time incorporating localhost into my code, but currently the
> great majority of our clients are desktop users who then had to fiddle

with

> the hosts and services files. Incidentally it appears that Windows reads
> the hosts file only at startup, so if a change is made a reboot is

required

> before it is seen.

All of my tests indicate that Windows reads the hosts file whenever it needs
to resolve a name. I have made dynamic changes to it (such as when
installing an app) and I haven't had to reboot to have it read the new
entries. It may be that an entry that is changed (not added) is read at
startup but I haven't actually run that type of specific test.

Woody