> > > This application is a Delphi app accessing the Firebird database
> > > directly over the Internet via the BDE.
> >
> > BDE!!! over the Internet!!!
> > I'm sorry but you are never going to get good (read acceptable)
> performancce
> > over the internet. The bandwidth is just not up to it. Even
> tunnelling under
> > compression is not going to work, since the transport protocol of FB
> is
> > small/numerous packets... i's a non-starter I'm afraid.
> > Alan
>
> Interesting! Why should this combination be a problem? And how do
> people implement decent performing client/server apps over the Internet?
>
> Any info gratefully received.
>
> Trevor

usually by way of a third tier which specialises in this kind of traffic and
also serves as a cache and connection poole for remote clients.
Zebedee is the "cheapest" solution in this space but it is merely a proxy
which tunnels and compresses the data. Speed gained by packet compression is
often lost by the compression/decompression task itself which takes place at
each end (client and server). For example, it's good for DB replication
tasks which aren't time critical.
RemObjects is more specialised, but use of this infrastructure would depend
on how your application is written and architected in the first place. I
doubt if you would get much statisfaction out of converting existing
applications (some may argue success in this area), rather you would need to
architect your app from the ground up considering what remobjects had to
offer.
The other route for client/server connections where bandwidth is sub-100Mbit
is via use of a web server and php. asp or .NET scripts and allow users
access via web pages. It's a different kind of interface completely.
Firebird has a very "chatty" protocol and has never been a good candidate
for anything but LAN client server work without the extra hard yards
invested into the comms/cache layer(s).
I'm surprised you are happy with performance using BDE over the internet,
your users must be a very patient lot :-)
Alan