At 02:46 PM 11/05/2004 +0000, you wrote:

>Hi
>
>I need to log onto a remote site via putty to do a maintenance
>backup/restore. Sometimes I get 'database in use' when I try to
>restore 'over' the existing GDB. This is always someone having left
>the app open on one of the clients.
>
>Is it safe to:
>exec Chkconfig firebird off
>change GDB name
>exec Chkconfig firebird on
>do restore
>?
>
>Could this corrupt the existing GDB?

Absolutely. There is no such thing as a "hot restore". There are five ways
to corrupt Firebird databases and this is one of them.

Never never never use gbak -r. An analogy is: it is possible to do a
free-fall from a helicopter but the ground can be counted on to break your
fall.

Always use gbak -c and restore to a different name. Log in to the restored
db and verify it. Then knock everyone off before gzipping the old database
off to a safe place and doing mv to rename the restored db.

btw, could you please direct your non-IBO questions to the firebird-support
list?

Helen