Firebird

Currently there is only one way to quickly load a lot of data into database. That is by using external tables. You should read the manual for details, but here's a short explanation. You create a binary or textual file using the external table format and then hook it up in the database using a statement like this:

CREATE TABLE ext1 EXTERNAL 'c:myfile.txt'

(

field1 char(20),

field2 smallint

);

To do quick import into regular table, do something like this:

INSERT INTO realtable1 (field1, field2)

SELECT field1, field2 FROM ext1;

This insert would still check constraints, foreign keys, fire triggers and build indexes. If you can, it is wise to deactivate indexes and triggers while loading and activate them when done.

Make sure you drop the external table when done, in order to release the lock on the file.

The main problem with external tables is handling of NULLs and BLOBs. If you need to deal with those, you're better off using some tool like FBExport. However, please note that external tables are much faster.

If you want to do it from an application, a simple try to connect should suffice. Otherwise you have various options:

a) check if firebird server is in the list of running programs (use task manager on Windows, or 'ps ax' command on Linux). Please note that Classic won't be running until there is a connection established.

b) check whether the port 3050 is open on the machine. First, you can check with netstat command, and if it is open, you can test whether it accepts connections by telnet-ing to the port. Just type:

telnet [hostname|IPaddress] 3050

Example:

telnet localhost 3050

If you use Linux, you can also check the open port with 'lsof' command. It outputs a lot, so you might want to 'grep' for 3050 or gds_db strings:

# lsof | grep gds_db

# lsof | grep 3050

c) if all of this fails, perhaps you should check whether the remote server is reachable at all. You can use 'ping' command:

ping [hostname|IPaddress]

Example:

ping 192.168.0.22

Please note that ping can still give you 'host unreachable' message even if host is up. This is because the firewall software can drop the ICMP (ping) packets (it's done to prevent some viruses from spreading, or network scans).