> Hello,
> please excuse my newbie question.
>
> I intend to move my webspace to a new provider who will allow me to use
> firebird a.o. Since I never had the experience to use a database on a
> web server, I have a few questions.
>
> There is a firebird server that is run by the server/provider.
> I will get the physical path where to store my database.
> I will know the IP of the server (and there will be the domain name).
>
> a)
> How are firebird user accounts managed in such a constellation.
> Do I need one special user account (by the provider) to access a
> database from a web service application (i.e. a CGI or php)?
> How can I implement different "roles" then.

for website work - forget the native security database of Firebird. Be given
one username by the provider, then manage users yourself with your own users
table, passwords, roles etc.

>
> b)
> (How) can I access my database directly with a client application
> without a HTTP connection through a web application sitting on the server?
> The provider is willing to make any necessary configurations but is not
> very experienced with firebird so he asked me to provide the information.

You will not want to connect via any other method than HTTP. Normal socket
traffic is far too heavy for a ormal client/server connection over the
internet.
I always have a development environment which is local and a mirrored setup,
just as you do with the website itself. When the time comes to publish
changes from the website, you will know if changes to the db structure are
also required. If so, you do a database compare (several tools available)
over a normal socket connection, then a database modify script is executed.
Voila.

Alan

>
> Regards
> Urs