> I am new to IB/Firebird, and was wondering what the
> accepted method of getting through a firewall to the database
> server is? Currently we are trying to use VPN but the
> performance is extremely slow. I have read a bunch of
> articles that say to throw open port 3050 on the
> firewall/router and map it to the database server port 3050.

this is indeed not a good idea since all traffic will go unencrypted over
the internet.

> Our network admin has concerns about the vulnerability of
> this to port attacks and malicious hacking. Can anyone help
> me out with some information on this? Thanks.

a vpn shouldn't be too slow if configured correctly. the speed penalty over
unencrypted traffic shouldn't be more than 10-20%.
there is a howto for using zeebeedee with firebird to compress and encrypt
network traffic. look at
http://www.ibphoenix.com/main.nfs?a=ibphoenix&page=ibp_zebedee
(watch for line wrappings)

regards
michael