At 11:58 PM 15/01/2005 +1100, you wrote:

> > >Can someone tell me somethign about the following options:
> > >1. Using alias for connection
> > >2. Using Services API for backup
> > >3. Using Windows Server 1.5
> > >
> > >Can an alias be provided for the backup operation?
> >
> > Yes, for the database file only.
> >
> > >Does this alias need to be identifiable as a backup alias and have fbk as
> > >the file extension?
> >
> > No. You can't have an alias for the backup file - it's not a database,
> > just a file.
> >
> > >(or some other means of telling that it's not a file to connect to)
> >
> > Gbak's parameters are positional so gbak knows which file is which.
> >
> > >If no to the first question, is there no other way to backup remote
> > >databases using serivces API without knowing the path to the file on the
> > >server?
> >
> > If you mean the path to the backup file then No.
> >
> > ./hb
>
>So any security improvement you acquire by use of aliases, is lost if you
>are forced to publish to the users via backup file name and path, the backup
>file path. I can only see that backing up remotely must be removed from the
>remote users's options if you are to protect the database file. No?

No. Why would you hard-code the backup file path? TIBOBackupService
exposes it as a property, so it's up to you what you do with it in the
application. Take a look at my example code in the ibobjects Files
repository. It's ugly but it gives the idea.

Even if you run gbak from a batch file or cron job you can pass a variable
to the job...

./hb


Helen