--- In firebird-support@yahoogroups.com, "drstanl" <DrStanL@...> wrote:

>
> Hi all,
>
> Networking is above my head; I barely know the terms, and even less
> their implications.
>
> I wrote software for a small office (4 networked computers) and now
> I need to install my two applications and also the Firebird engine.
> Helen's book has pages and pages on this topic, but it is rather a bit
> above me. Could someone give me a baby step-by-step, without the
> jargon? I would greatly appreciate it!

I can't seem to access the Firebird website at the moment, but there
is a Quick Start Guide in the documentation that you should read which
will probably answer 99% of your questions. If it is still down, the
document is also installed into your
%ProgramFiles%\Firebird\Firebird_x_x\doc\ folder.

In a nutshell, nominate one of the computers as the 'server'. I will
presume this is the computer name, so substitute whatever the real
name is in the examples below. Install the Firebird engine on this
computer. The latest stable version is 2.0.3.

The database 'fdb' file must be on a drive directly attached to this
'server'. It can NOT sit on a 'share'. No other computer needs to be
able to see this file. In fact, this is a big security and potentially
a database corruption risk if you do. You mention that c:\Data is
shared, so DON'T install it to that directory.

When you have selected an appropriate location on the server for the
database file, add a record into aliases.conf using notepad, like:
StansDB=c:\SomePath\StansDB.fdb.

Save the file and quit notepad, you have just created an alias. Your
application itself can sit and be executed from the 'z drive', it just
depends on the network speed and executable/dll sizes whether this is
fast enough.

Your DatabaseName property should be set to
[host or IP Address]:[alias or path]

So in this case,
server:StansDB

This tells the client library that you want a TCP/IP connection to the
computer with the name 'server', and on that computer the alias is
StansDB. When the connection is established, Firebird will check the
aliases.conf file to see where StansDB points to.

For IBX, you will need the legacy gds32.dll library. You will also
need to check that your Windows Firewall on the server is allowing
exceptions for the Firebird Server process or has an exception for
port 3050.

To test everything is working, you can try from the command prompt on
one of the clients:
telnet server 3050
If you see a blank screen, you are good to go. If you see an error,
the service isn't running or there is some networking issue preventing
the connection (like your firewall).

Again, you should read the Quick Start Guide, because most of these
steps are explained in detail there.

Adam