We have the same Windows application running at about a dozen
completely independent sites, with a variety of hardware. Client
workstations (from 5 to 25 workstations) connect to the Firebird server
at the site; some are on Windows servers, some on Linux. The app is
running on Windows and Novell networks. Some of the sites have been very
active for 5 years. We use IP addresses in the connection string, not
server names.

Now we have a new installation site, with the database on Linux; Windows
network. In every (client) case, after about ten minutes of inactivity,
the next attempt to access the database (query, update, etc.) results in
this error message:
---------------------------------
ISC ERROR CODE: 335544721

ISC ERROR MESSAGE:
Unable to complete network request to host "222.111.44.55". [This isn't
a real IP address for us; edited for privacy]
Error reading data from the connection.
An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.
---------------------------------

I have reviewed about 100 Google hits for this message, and it the
problem seems to be hard to track down, although it obviously has to do
with the connection being closed by the O/S, sometimes in a "time-out"
kind of behavior. But I wanted to be sure whether there is anything in
Firebird or its configuration along the lines of "keepalive" or
"timeout" or anything else that might contribute to this problem? Any
ideas about why the connection is begin lost?

TIA,

Dennis McFall