We've been running Interbase since 1999 and so far have only encountered
3 database corruptions. Every single instance was a result of human
error:

1) Someone did an insert+select query that kept on growing a table until
it reached our file size limit on the server
2) We had a multi-file database and someone accidentally deleted one of
the database files in the middle of the day
3) Someone was restoring over a database and the partition which housed
the /tmp directory ran out of room (the database partition had a lot of
room though)

Needless to say we have locked down the servers better and removed
sysdba access from the developers (they can only play around in their
separated test environment). We have never seen the server crash or
freeze or do anything out of the ordinary. It has always been caused by
a developer or an system administrator messing something up on accident.
I can't even remember how many records we have now, I think our last
count was total database size (all of our Interbase databases) of
600-800 GB or something like that.

-steve

On Thu, 2005-09-29 at 21:26 +0000, dancooperstock wrote:

> (I've had some correspondence about this on the IB-Conversions list,
> but I was advised to move it here.)
>
> I am the developer of a free program with over 2,000 users, currently
> using Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere for its database. For various
> reasons, I'm considering switching to Firebird.
>
> My concern is that it has to be absolutely rock solid, zero
> administration, and as close to zero problems (e.g. database
> corruption) as possible. With Sybase ASA, I think in 5 years of
> supporting my program I have had only 1 or 2 users who have actually
> had a problem with their database.
>
> I've asked here before, and was told that yes, Firebird is just that
> rock solid.
>
> However, I just read the first issue of The Interbase and Firebird
> Developer Magazine. I see there are ads in there for products like
> IBSurgeon (for repairing corrupted databases), IBFirstAid (for
> diagnosing and repairing common corruptions of InterBase and Firebird
> databases) and IBBackupSurgeon (for reading data from corrupted
> backups).
>
> The need for these programs has me worried about whether Firebird is
> really rock-solid enough for me to use as the embedded DB in my
> application or not.
>
> Under what sorts of circumstances do Firebird databases, and their
> backups, tend to get corrupted?
>
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>
>
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