Helen Borrie wrote:

>
> No. Very much NOT OK.
>
>

Ok, I wont do that then. :o)

> You simply don't do that. Ever. Actually, it's not a very bright idea to restore over a database that isn't running, either. The gbak restore switches have been modified in Fb 2 to make it harder to do that by mistake...read the release notes.
>
> ./heLen
>

If it's not a very bright idea to restore over a database that isn't
running, why is it then a possibility? Is there some "hidden" clever
reason for this?

What is considered good practice when backing up a database? All I need
is to move the data offsite each night using rsync, and optionally
having the database "vacuumed" once a week to keep the size under control.

It's pretty difficult for me to shut down the database as it is being
used 24/7, so I guess the whole "vacuum" thing is going to be pretty
hard to accomplish?

I'm running Firebird Classic 2.0.3 on Linux.

Sincerely,
Thomas