TROUBLESHOOTING =============== A lot of what is explained below should be done automatically by the install process. It is explained here just in case it didn't do it correctly for your circumstance. 1) HOW DO I TELL IF IT IS WORKING? Here is a quick smoke test to see if everything is working: $cd /opt/firebird/examples $/opt/firebird/bin/isql >connect employee.gdb; >select rdb$relation_name from rdb$relations; >exit; (You may need to provide the SYSDBA password in some cases) $/opt/firebird/bin/isql >connect employee.gdb user sysdba password <password>; >select rdb$relation_name from rdb$relations; >show tables; >exit; Where password will be either masterkey, or present in the file /opt/firebird/SYSDBA.password. For a test using networking: $/opt/firebird/bin/isql >connect 'localhost:/opt/firebird/examples/employee.gdb'; >select rdb$relation_name from rdb$relations; >exit; On a remote machine you can try the above replacing localhost with the server name. Remember, you may need to specify the username/password to get this to work. 2) HOW DO I CHECK THAT THE SERVER IS RUNNING You can check if the server is running by: netstat -an | grep 3050 If something is listening on port 3050 then the server is running. If something is not running, then see next topics. 3) TROUBLESHOOTING CLASSIC SERVER INSTALL The classic server works in two modes. The first mode allows you to directly open the database files and does not need a server. To test this mode, open the database using only the directory path: $isql >connect '/opt/firebird/examples.gdb'; In the second mode, requests are serviced by the inetd process. To test this mode, open the database with a connection string that includes the server name or IP: $isql >connect 'localhost:/opt/firebird/examples.gdb'; The configuration files for setting up the inetd (or xinetd) for the classic server are as follows: The /etc/services file needs an entry as follows: gds_db 3050/tcp # InterBase Database Remote Protocol" For inetd the /etc/inetd.conf file should have a line as follows gds_db stream tcp nowait.30000 root /opt/firebird/bin/fb_inet_server gds_inet_server You will need to restart the inetd process before the server will work. $ps -ef | grep inetd will give you the process id and $kill -HUP <pid> will instruct it to reread its configuration file and listen on port 3050. Recent Linux systems Redhat 7.0, Mandrake 7.2, and later have xinetd. The process is fairly similar, except the firebird service is described via a file in /etc/xinetd.d/firebird. There is a template version of this file in /opt/firebird/misc/firebird.xinetd, you should only need to copy the file to that directory. After copying the file, to get the xinetd process to re-read its configuration files, first find the xinetd process id: $ ps -ef | grep xinetd Then send it a restart signal: $kill -USR2 <pid> The process will reread its configuration file and listen on port 3050. See the topic SERVER STILL WONT START for more info if required. 4) TROUBLESHOOTING SUPER SERVER INSTALL Super server runs as an inetd process. There should be an fbguard process running and several (usually 3) fbserver threads running. The server should start with $/etc/init.d/firebird start Installation problems for super usually revolve around the server not starting up correctly during installation. Often this is caused by either lack of permission to connect via tcp to the server process or a prior install (perhaps a classic server ) already running. One bad side effect is that this could result in the initial SYSDBA password not being set correctly. If there are problems you may need to check the actual file for correct install location. If running the /etc/init.d/firebird start script does not work, then see the topic SERVER STILL WONT START for more debugging info. 5) SERVER STILL WONT START If you are really having problems try running the server programs directly. In this case, unsatisfied links or error messages will show up in the console. To invoke superserver: $/opt/firebird/bin/fbserver # for super To invoke classic: $/opt/firebird/bin/fb_inet_server # for classic and take note of any error messages. There may be a problem with an unsatisfied dynamic library link. This occurs when firebird requires a library, or version of a library, that you do not have installed. You can check the dynamic library requirements as follows: $ldd /opt/firebird/bin/fbserver If you are still stuck, try posting a question to the support newsgroup at: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/firebird-support/ 6) PROBLEMS CONNECTING TO SERVER There can be problems if DNS is not configured correctly. Incorrect DNS configuration will result in problems looking up the host's name or IP. If this is the case, placing specific entries in the /etc/hosts file is a good place to start. Try to connect to the server using telnet, note space between server name and port. $telnet server 3050 This will tell you if you can get to the server. Failure could be because of some firewall blockage. The most common problem is simply that the server is not running. 7) WHY ARE MY DATABASES OWNED BY ROOT 8) WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE