At 03:53 AM 29/07/2005 +0000, you wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>An update to the original post on this subject:
>
>When I initially copied the FDB file to the server from my laptop I
>had had to log on as the server administrator. After doing this the
>application on my laptop ran fine, even though the connection to the
>server was disconnected/reconnected a few times.
>When trying the app on the Win 2000 client it wouldn't work.
>However, logging on to the server yesterday from the Win 200 machine
>as administrator, and then trying the app now works.
>Obviously I'm missing something here in terms of the necessity to
>log onto the server in the first instance (the FDB is, BTW, in a
>shared folder on the server).

It shouldn't be. Were you trying to access a "host" that was not a network
node, but a mapped device? This will fail.

The host has to be the actual node name of the server host machine (for
Windows Named Pipes connection). By default, a Windows server broadcasts
its Windows node name as its TCP/IP host name; although, for TCP/IP, you
also have the option of connecting to the machine by some other name,
provided you place an entry in the Hosts file of the server and (usefully)
the client(s) that maps the host machine's IP address to that name.

For example, many the command-line pastings in the Firebird book refer to a
server named "hotchicken". They came from my main Windows box, whose node
name is "dev". The pastings are genuine, though. In the server's hosts
file, I have entries like the first two for that machine's IP address:

10.12.13.1 dev # node name of main Win32 box
10.12.13.1 hotchicken # server for Firebird Book examples
10.12.13.2 coolduck # main Linux development box
10.12.13.2 fluffy # main Linux box under Win2K
10.12.13.3 rusty # apache/IIS host (Windows)
10.12.13.3 rustyx # apache host (Linux)
..... and so on.

>Why logging on to the server just once should cause the app to run
>from that point forward I don't understand.

I don't understand it, either, but it has been reported before when there
was confusion about what actually constitutes a "host".

>I had assumed (obviously wrongly) that setting the port at 3050 would
>bypass the server log-on requirements.

No. Running the Firebird server as a service "bypasses" (if you like) the
need for anyone to be logged on to the host machine in order for a service
to be available to authorised network users. As a rule, servers should not
be left logged on.

The Firebird service broadcasts to potential TCP/IP clients through port
3050, regardless of whether you run the Fb server as a service or an
application. (FB embedded, of course, doesn't broadcast through a network
port at all..) Setting the port to 3050 is actually unnecessary in
Firebird, if the installer was used to install it. Port 3050 is the
default port and the installer writes a services file entry for it if it
isn't already there.

>Actually, at the moment, the FDB is resident on the application
>server which also runs a commercial Oracle based program (which in
>turn is connected to a DB server). The Oracle program is still
>under "development/modification" (for the last 10 months) so I am
>trying to avoid any 'interference' with this aspect.

By "FDB" do you mean the database file? Is the database file on a storage
device that is under the direct control of Fb server's host machine? It
has to be.

>The one thing I haven't checked yet is what strain of Windows is
>running on the application server at this time.

Windows XP Home, ME or 9x would be the source of different network-based
problems than the NT variants (NT 4, Win2K, XP Pro or Server2003).

./heLen