If I understand it correctly, port 3050 must be open in order to
connect to a firebird database from across the internet. My
application is written in coldfusion (CF) and internet users will
access CF pages which will be generated after queries to the firebird
database. If all of these queries are happening on the server itself,
is it still necessary to make certain that port 3050 is open to the
internet?

I know that if this port weren't open, then I also wouldn't be able to
access the database from across the internet, but I could still access
it via Remote Desktop couldn't I?

This may be a rather silly question, but I'm not above asking silly
questions (if it leads to deeper understanding). If things could work
in this fashion, then wouldn't it also make the database somewhat more
secure?

Thanks.