At 09:57 PM 10/11/2008, Paul Hope wrote:

> I am guessing that after the connection
>drops the FB client issues its next keep alive packet, this fails (like the
>first ping) and it flags the connection as lost. Further database activity
>then fails.

The dummy packets are issued by the server, not the client. If the client is there, it answers; if the server doesn't get an answer, it informs the network that it is no longer interested in the client. Eventually the network's timeout delay will expire and it will close the socket. On the client's part, it doesn't have any way to know it has lost the connection until it tries to send a request across the wire.

>If I reconnect this succeeds but I cant tell if it has tried more than once
>to establish the connection, I assume it has.

Assuming you are still using IBO, its reconnection behaviour will be whatever you have set up for it.

>So if my accumulation of guesses are correct then the quation becomes - does
>the stay client stay alive try more than once, or just try once and give up
>and could this be the problem?

It's not the client causing the problem you're describing; but in both your case and the OP's case, *something* aint going right between server and client socket.

If the server is v.2.0 or higher, this might have something to do with it:
http://tracker.firebirdsql.org/browse/CORE-1357

./heLen