------------------ Connection strings ------------------ Connection string is a local or remote path to the database being attached. The legacy syntax (supported by all Firebird versions) is the following: For TCP (aka INET) protocol: <host> [ / <port>] : <file path to database or alias> For named pipes (aka NetBEUI, aka WNET) protocol: \\ <host> [ @ <port>] \ <file path to database or alias> For local connections as simple as: <file path to database or alias> If host name is omitted, local connection is implied. Depending on settings, platform and Firebird version, it could be performed via either the embedded engine or XNET (shared memory) protocol or TCP localhost loopback. Examples: Connect via TCP using database name: 192.168.0.11:/db/mydb.fdb 192.168.0.11:C:\db\mydb.fdb myserver:C:\db\mydb.fdb localhost:/db/mydb.fdb Connect via TCP using database alias: 192.168.0.11:mydb myserver:mydb localhost:mydb Connect via TCP using non-default port 3051: 192.168.0.11/3051:C:\db\mydb.fdb 192.168.0.11/3051:mydb myserver/3051:/db/mydb.fdb localhost/3051:/db/mydb.fdb myserver/3051:mydb localhost/3051:mydb Connect via TCP using non-default service name: 192.168.0.11/fb_db:C:\db\mydb.fdb 192.168.0.11/fb_db:mydb localhost/fb_db:/db/mydb.fdb myserver/fb_db:/db/mydb.fdb myserver/fb_db:mydb localhost/fb_db:mydb Connect via named pipes: \\myserver\C:\db\mydb.fdb \\myserver@fb_db\C:\db\mydb.fdb Local connection: /db/mydb.fdb C:\db\mydb.fdb mydb Additionally, Firebird 3.0 introduces generalized URL-like syntax for connection strings: [ <protocol> : // [ <host> [ : <port> ] ] ] / <file path to database or alias> Where protocol is one of: INET (means TCP), WNET (means named pipes) or XNET (means shared memory). Examples: Connect via TCP using database name: inet://192.168.0.11//db/mydb.fdb inet://192.168.0.11/C:\db\mydb.fdb inet://myserver/C:\db\mydb.fdb inet://localhost//db/mydb.fdb Connect via TCP using database alias: inet://192.168.0.11/mydb inet://myserver/mydb inet://localhost/mydb Connect via TCP using non-default port 3051: inet://192.168.0.11:3051/C:\db\mydb.fdb inet://192.168.0.11:3051/mydb inet://myserver:3051//db/mydb.fdb inet://localhost:3051//db/mydb.fdb inet://myserver:3051/mydb inet://localhost:3051/mydb Connect via TCP using non-default service name: inet://192.168.0.11:fb_db/C:\db\mydb.fdb inet://192.168.0.11:fb_db/mydb inet://localhost:fb_db//db/mydb.fdb inet://myserver:fb_db//db/mydb.fdb inet://myserver:fb_db/mydb inet://localhost:fb_db/mydb The "inet" protocol can be replaced by "inet4" or "inet6" to restrict client to IPv4 or IPv6 addresses corresponding to supplied name ("inet" protocol tries all addresses in the order determined by OS): inet4://myserver/mydb inet6://myserver/mydb Connect via named pipes: wnet://myserver/C:\db\mydb.fdb wnet://myserver:fb_db/C:\db\mydb.fdb Loopback connection via TCP: inet:///db/mydb.fdb inet://C:\db\mydb.fdb inet://mydb Loopback connection via named pipes: wnet://C:\db\mydb.fdb wnet://mydb Local connection via shared memory: xnet://C:\db\mydb.fdb xnet://mydb Local (embedded by default) connection: /db/mydb.fdb C:\db\mydb.fdb mydb If protocol and host name are omitted, local connection is implied. Depending on settings, it could be performed via either the embedded engine or XNET (shared memory) protocol or TCP localhost loopback. On the server side, default provider configuration is: Providers = Remote, Engine13, Loopback It means that if the remote provider fails to match the connection string (because of missing protocol / host parts), then the embedded engine handles the hostless connection. If you need to connect locally using a specific transport protocol, please specify: inet://<file path to database or alias> or wnet://<file path to database or alias> or xnet://<file path to database or alias> Note: WNET (named pipes) and XNET (shared memory) protocols are available on Windows only.