Currently I am running Firebird 2.1 SS on a Windows 2003 server. I totally administer the server remotely using 'Remote Desktop Connection'. Using this, I am able to log on to the remote computer and have total access to the desktop just as if I were sitting in front of it. This pretty much means that I can do anything that does not require putting your hands on the server such as partitioning, adding software, stopping a service, etc.

Additionally, administering FB remotely on Windows 2003 is very easy. For example, I have FB port 3050 closed (FB only accessible to my internet applications that run on the same server). Yet I can easily log into the remote desktop, fire up a copy of my SQL database utility and work with the database just as if it were on my local workstation.

1.) Would administration be less flexible on a remote Linux or FreeBSD server? Is there a remote GUI interface similar to 'Remote Desktop Connection' for Windows or is remote access limited to text and command based?

2.) Ubuntu appears to be the most popular Linux flavor. I read on their site about 2 versions, a desktop and server edition. Is anyone using Ubuntu with FB? For a Linux single CPU system, is it preferred to run SS or Classic?

3.) I noticed that there are recent FB downloads available for both Windows and Linux. The most recent FreeBSD download available on firebirdsql.org appears to be 1.5.5. Does this mean that FB ports for FreeBSD are not as frequent?

In a nutshell, I will pick a server with a pre-installed OS, and what I am mainly afraid of is that I will not have hands on access to this server and EVERYTHING must be done remotely by me.

Please advise,

Jeff