> I am a bit confused about your setup there. Are they physically
> sitting at the console, or are they logged in using Remote Desktop?

For what? The 3 clients are on different PCs running WinXP. To
perform gbak/gsec operations I'm using GotoMyPC into one of their
client PCs and then Remote Desktop to their server. Does that change
anything?

> Volume Shadow Copy

I assume that's a Win2003 feature and not Firebird shadowing.

> Switching from local protocol and TCP/IP loopback for use in terminal
> services / remote desktop.

It was a typical firebird installation with an alias addded to
alias.conf. When I use gbak/gsec it was unable to find the database
(I just used the alias) so I had to use "localhost", which is the
first time I've had to do that.

I'm a bit confused by Remote Desktop. Does that really change
anything, it's still running on the server isn't it?

>
> You also have hardware differences to factor in as with any new server
> - network cards, RAIDS busy building their shadow etc.

The server was installed a couple of weeks ago.

Sometimes

> techos go for broke and install every anti-spyware and anti-virus
> package known to man on a new server.

There's no anti-virus software on the PC.

> You will need to actually take a look at the server when it is going
> slow. Is it CPU bound, Disk bound, network bound? That should point to
> the solution.

Yes, that's next on my list.

> I would also try a backup-restore cycle which removes all garbage

and rebalances all your indices.

Already done that and they report little difference.

Thanks for your help.

David