At 02:02 PM 07-11-02 +0000, you wrote:

>I've read the All About Connections thread and, while it was
>informative, it leaves me with some questions:
>
>1) Is TCP/IP preferable to other protocols?

Yes.

>2) Which is preferable, DNS or IP Address?

DNS usually - via entries in the HOSTS file if you don't have DHCP. But IP
address will work just as well in recent Windows editions and not at all in
original Win95.

>3) What IP address should I set my NICs to?

Doesn't matter to Firebird; but it depends on your network setup. The
main thing is that the addresses are visible to the whole network.

>4) Am I correct that I must make entries in the HOSTS.SAM file for
>the IP Addresses of my NICS?

You should; but it's the HOSTS file, not HOSTS.SAM, which is only a SAMple
file for the real file. Copy HOSTS.SAM, rename the copy to HOSTS make your
entries in there, in the format indicated by the samples.

>5) If I use IP Addresses, what settings must I make for a
>TIBO_Connection? Just the database path in the format
>hostname:driveID:\dirname\dbname.gdb? Or something else?

Off topic here (use the ibobjects list) but I'll tell you anyway. :-) Set
the SERVER property to the hostname and put the path (minus the servername
and the colon that would follow it) into the Path property. Set the
protocol to cpTCP_IP. IBO will automatically set the Databasename property
to the full path: you don't need it; you can change it to a user-friendly
name like Fluffy, since it's picked up as a property by other objects (and
short is sweet in the Object Inspector...).

The server MUST be a physical server in your network. Can't be a mapped
drive or a share.

heLen