At 04:52 PM 4/10/2006, you wrote:

>Hello Group,
>
>What is the danger of connecting to the same database via alias and
>via file path?

None that I have ever heard of or experienced.

>Scenario:
>
>Our main databases are all aliased, but we have some tier level
>databases which are not (because they are in a path relative to the
>tier binary).
>
>To simplify the database operations a bit, I have made a tool that
>integrates with the right click in Windows explorer to perform backups
>and restores. (Someone had made an attempt at this using pure registry
>settings however it did not work very well on paths with spaces).
>
>In a nutshell,
>
>Right Clicking on c:\myfb.fdb -> Backup generates a connection string of
>
>localhost:c:\myfb.fdb
>
>There is a chance that in aliases.conf there is the line
>
>MyDB = c:\myfb.fdb
>
>and other users are accessing localhost:MyDB.
>
>Will this result in problems with either the database or the backup file?

None known, nor any theoretical reason why there would be. The
"danger scenario" exists in InterBase SS on Windows, where it is
possible to corrupt databases by having users connected
simultaneously having used different (but acceptable to Windows) path
formats, viz.

c:\myfb.fdb and c:myfb.fdb

This is the so-called "Windows path bug". It was exterminated by a
change done during beta development of Fb 1.0. In released Firebird
versions, an attempt to connect using one form of the path string
whilst another user is connected having used the other form will
cause an exception and block the attempted connection.

./heLen