Hello,
I think "application requirements" is just one thing to think about.
One another thing to think about, which sometimes is more important, is
performance.
Some databases are not suitable for frequent short connections, and
some are. Many Oracle DBA would beat the developers using frequent short
connections to death.
While some databases are not suitable for long time idle
connections, and some are. MySQL is like this.
If Firebird is suitable for both, then everything is OK. If not,
then I should think about this when I design the application.

Thanks.

Helen Borrie wrote:
The "preferred way" is the way that best suits the requirements.
Applications can be written to time out and log off automatically if
the site has users who carelessly leave a connected
application unattended for long periods. Doing this might be especially
useful if the server has limited resources, high peak loads and a
lot of careless users...
./heLen