>>If I want to access a Firebird server on a network, does the server
>>have to have a fixed IP address?
>>

I>>f not, how would one specify its address?

>>Many thanks

>>Mitch

Mitch,

When any machine is booting up, it can get an IP address in one of three
ways: a DHCP server on the network (the usual way for clients), a fixed
address hard coded into the TCP/IP properties, or an automatic assignment of
the default Microsoft default IP address (XP only I think). In a workgroup,
the number of hosts is usually small enough that a fixed assignment will be
used.

When a host wants to talk to another host on the net, there are several ways
to establish a connection: the client machine can query a WINS server (or,
if on an Active Directory Domain, a dynamic DNS server), the client can look
in its hosts file to find an entry that has been placed there by the
administrator, or the host can broadcast on the net asking for a response
from the target host.

Before Active Directory, almost all servers had a fixed IP address. Even
now, most would have one.

IMHO, the most effective procedure on a small network is to assign fixed
addresses and put an entry for the firebird server in the hosts file of the
clients.

Marv


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