Jason,

>> You can easily run several Firebird instances side-by-side as an
>> application. The client application then simply needs to provide the
>> proper port information in the connect string to connect to right
>> instance.
>
> I'll have to burst your bubble here Thomas.
> I tried some years back and just made a mess of things.
>
> Perhaps you can point me to some good instructions somewhere that can make
> it easy for an oaf like me?

On Windows I'm doing this, running several instances as an *application*
(multiple instances as a service is easily possible with 2.1 and higher
though):

- Take the ZIP distribution of Firebird and not the installer
- Extract the content into a directory. I usually use the following
notation for the directory.

Firebird_<xyz>_<port>

Where <xyz> is the exact version number and <port> the TCP port you
intend to run the instance. For example, for Firebird 2.5.0 on port 3050
this is:

Firebird_250_3050

Extract the content of the ZIP into this directory.

- You don't need to do anything in firebird.conf, because you can
specify the port at the command-line of the server executable. For
instance, running 2.5.0 as SuperClassic, you have to do something like that:

fb_inet_server -a -i -m -p 3050

* Or Classic (without -m):

fb_inet_server -a -i -p 3050

* Or SuperServer:

fbserver -a -i -p 3050

I usually create a short-cut for this kind of stuff on my desktop.

- The same for all other instances you want to run. Simply use a
different directory including port information and proper command-line
switches in combination with the executable in respect to the
architecture you would like to use.

* E.g. Firebird 2.1.4 on port 4050 as Classic server:

fb_inet_server -a -i -p 4050

* E.g. Firebird 2.0.6 on port 5050 as Classic server:

fb_inet_server -a -i -p 5050

etc ...

Of course, you can also run the same Firebird version in different
architectures in parallel if you like.

- Regarding the client library: I usually use the latest, e.g. from 2.5
in a central place. This should work fine with older server version as well.


I hope I didn't forget something.




--
With regards,
Thomas Steinmaurer

* Firebird Foundation Committee Member
http://www.firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-foundation/

* Upscene Productions - Database Tools for Developers
http://www.upscene.com/

* My Blog
http://blog.upscene.com/thomas/index.php