Hi,

> If I type sudo /usr/lib/firebird2/bin/fguard , let that run for a little
> while,
> and then control-C, then it starts up an fbserver and I can connect

You should use something like

/usr/lib/firebird2/bin/fbmgr -start -forever

> Is there a way to check on the startup routines that super-server
> should use to see if there's a problem with them, or to force
> firebird to be running before I try to connect to it? Thanks.

Have you look if you install comes with a firebird script at /etc/init.d (or
something like, at your distro) use this to automatically start the FB
server, on RedHat/similar I use something like:

chkconfig --level 345 firebird on

to make it auto-start at levels 3,4 and 5


manually you could use:

/etc/init.d/firebird start


Regards,
Anderson Farias