--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "martinknappe" <martin@...>
wrote:

>
> hello
> i was wondering the other day whats exactly that difference between fb
> as a service an fb as an application

Win9x does not support services
WinNT/2K/XP/2003/Vista do

A service is just like an application that Windows starts itself, that
you need poweruser or better rights to start or stop it, that has the
ability to set options if the process crashes etc.

Unless you want the user to be starting and stopping the server
constantly, make it a service. You can run the service as a user with
very specific rights to prevent exploits of any bug in Firebird from
compromising your system. If your user happens to be administrator
(good chance under windows), then any bug in Firebird that can be
remotely exploited could bring their system down. With a service with
tightly controlled permissions, the worst they could do would be
manipulations to the database file.

>
> i noticed that searches are a little bit faster when running as an
> application and from what the the quick start guide says about it i
> guess it has something to do with the difference between winxp and
> older versions of it but i don't really get it...can fb as an
> application also act as a remote service or is that an exclusive
> feature of the service? whats the difference all about...

Internally, it is the same engine whether running as a service or an
application. Was it really quicker ruling out environmental
explanations of any difference?

Adam