Subject Re: [firebird-support] Replacing embedded Firebird?
Author Helen Borrie
At 04:38 AM 23/11/2011, random64785 wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I use a proprietary application that embeds a Firebird database.
>I would like to be able to access its data via network, the application does not provide an interface.
>
>Since the database file is locked (http://www.firebirdfaq.org/faq230/) only one server may control it.
>
>Is there a way to setup a regular local Firebird server to which the application can connect directly (via DLL), so that other connections are possible as well?

Yes, of course. Install a full server and replace the fbembed.dll on the local machine with the fbclient.dll remote client. But unless you have the source code for your proprietary software, you won't be able to do this yourself - ask your vendor to give you a client/server version.

>Or can the embedded server be configured to act as relay to a regular Firebird DB?

The client embedded in fbembed.dll can be a *remote* client to a full server installation (if that's what you're asking). Your proprietary application code could connect as a local client to a full server installation, i.e., on the same machine as the application code, if you moved fbembed.dll out of harm's way (hide it somewhere) and replaced it with fbclient.dll.

Be aware that application developers often rename fbembed.dll to fbclient.dll or gds32.dll for compatibility with old application code. You should compare what you have with the fbclient.dll that you can extract from the version-matching zip kit from the Firebird downloads page. The "real" fbclient.dll is about one-fifth of the size of fbembed.dll.

If you are going to play around with your installation, I strongly recommend installing everything on another machine as a trial. Better advice would be to consult the vendors: anything we could suggest doing would be based on guesswork about how the software is set up.

>Any help appreciated,
>
>Anonymous

When you are asking for free help on a peer support list, signing messages with a pseudonym is regarded as impolite. In this case, whether justified or not, it leads to suspicion about your motives for wanting to get inside the database. It is strongly against our list policies to help people to hack proprietary software. Please reassure us.

^ heLen (List moderator)