Oh, one other thing :

The first thing my applications do on startup (before establishing a DB
connection) is check that the DB exists. In the old "Borland Database
Engine" terms, it checks to see that the Alias exists and is correctly
configured. If not, it writes the correct configuration before establishing
a connection.

In the same way, my applications all check for any "show - stoppers" before
trying to establish a connection, and in the absolute worst case, will log
my own error message and tell the user.

That way, if things go wrong, I at least have some idea where and how.

In the same way, every discrete transaction (DB operation) takes place
within a "try .. except" loop, and any problems are similarly caught.

Saved my ass many times, that has ... :-)

Regards

Tim