On Wed, May 4, 2016 at 5:44 AM, Helen Borrie helebor@... [firebird-support] <firebird-support@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

Hello shouldbe,

Tuesday, May 3, 2016, 11:35:31 PM, you wrote:

> Hi,

> I've inherited a Firebird database on Windows without any
> documentation, and I'm trying to document how it is setup if it is
> ever needed to be rebuilt.

The database and the server are two separate things. You can access a
database from any model (Superserver, Classic or embedded, for v.2.1).

> Windows reports that the product version is 2.1.2.18118

That's the build number, i.e., Firebird 2.1, sub-release 2 (very old),
build 18118.

> Perfmon reports that fbserver is using 16 threads, which following
> http://www.firebirdsql.org/file/documentation/reference_manuals/user_manuals/html/qsg2-classic-or-super.html
> makes me presume it is "Superserver", but is there any other way of
> confirming ?

Yes, probably SS. But the most conclusive way is to inspect the
executable details in the Services applet. For SS, the executable is
fbserver.exe; for Classic, fb_inet_server.exe.

Not having seen either before, I didn't even think that the filename would be the decider, its fbserver,exe, so must be SS

 

The installation might also have the Guardian running (fbguard.exe) as
a service. That's an option that will restart the Firebird SS service
if it is stopped for some reason. It's unnecessary for SS running as
a service (Windows services can be set up to do it anyway) but useful
if, for some reason, SS is running as an application. Guardian should
NOT be used with Classic.

yes, it has fbguard, from the link I posted it looked as if SS could be run with guard, but only as a service, which is the case.

 

If it is an embedded installation, that's different, as the server and
client components are merged into one DLL and there won't be a service
installed. Its "native" name is fbembed.dll but it is often renamed
to fbclient.dll or gds32.dll and would be located in the same
directory as the client application. The (possibly renamed)
fbembed.dll is used in lieu of the client-only library, fbclient.dll.

Also, if you are using v.2.1, it is STRONGLY recommended that you
upgrade to the newest sub-release (2.1.7, last-ever for 2.1!) It is
still v.2.1, so you don't need to upgrade the database on-disk
structure, but it has about a zillion bugs fixed across the long, long
life of v.2.1.

That's very useful to know, I'll add that to the list.

Hats off for deciding to document. It's no fun to get a system
landing on you without it! Did you know that you can use isql
-extract to extract a complete script of your metadata?

HB

Without documentation life can become difficult very easily...

Hopefully I'll be able to figure out the rest.

Many Thanks!