--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "Adam" <s3057043@...> wrote:

> > When I try to connect to a firebird db on a remote server I get

"Unable

> > to complete network request to host x.x.x.x. failed to establish a
> > connection"
> >
> > Both machines running "Firebird-1.5.3.4870-0-Win32.exe"
> >
>
> Try:
>
> telnet x.x.x.x 3050
>
> If it goes blank, that is good. It it says connection refused, that
> means the firewall is blocking it. The client machine does not need to
> run the server install by the way.
>
> It is windows, if it is XP SP2, then you will have two firewalls, one
> which is her router, and one which is on the computer. You will need
> to make an exception (just add port 3050 is the easiest).
>
> Her ODBC connection may not even be going through the network.
>
> Once you have figured it out, you should be aware that direct
> connections to the database through the internet is a security risk. I
> have been measuring recently the data throughput of an application I
> have written, and I assure you that the Firebird over the wire
> protocol uses a lot of pipe. A third party tool like Zebedee will
> allow you to create a secure and compressed tunnel to make such
> connections much safer.
>
> Adam
>

Nice tip re telnet, thanks.

Yes, we use stunnel for hiding stuff but don't need to for this database.
Do you think it would be a lot faster via stunnel?

We found that the firebird database server does not respond and I can
only connect if the Interbase server is running.
How could I go about getting a connection when firebird is running?

Thanks,
Phil