Two questions were sent in and we will provide a reply here for all AyaNova v3 users.
Question 1: Does Framework 2and Firebird engine have to be installed on all computers using AyaNova v3?
The .NET Framework 2 is required for all computer running the AyaNova v3.2.0 or higher program and optional utilities. It is not a requirement for the Firebird database server if you will not be running the actual AyaNova program itself on the server
The Firebird database server only needs to be installed on one computer on your network as only one shared Firebird server will be used by all AyaNova users.
The computer running the Firebirddatabase server can be used for AyaNova and other desktop applications as well, you do not have to dedicate a computer solely for running the Firebird database server, however be aware that since all users of AyaNova are sharing this one database on the one computer it should be a reliable computer that has good performance and is not likely to be shut down by the user who is using it for normal applications.
Detailed instructions for installing and configuringthe network Firebird database server are in the AyaNova v3 Manualsection “Installation of the AyaNova network Firebird server database” starting on page 536
All other networked computers require only the AyaNova program files and .NET Framework2 as per the installation " Step 3 - Installation and configuration of access via network Firebird database server" in the AyaNova v3 Manual
Question 2: Does the installation of the Firebird engine disrupt the normal operation of the computer it is runing on
In general no, it’s more likely the other way around: If a computer is hosting the shared Firebird database server and is also performing intensive activities for a user working on it then the database performance will suffer long before the user notices any performance degradation caused by the Firebird database server itself.
In our testing with both Firebird database server and MS SQL database server we’ve noticed a very significant difference between the two in terms of resource requirements. MS SQL server (Express or full versions) is much more resource hungry than Firebird. In one test database we saw MS SQL server take over 80mb of memory where Firebird consumed only 12mb for a database containing identical data.
On the other hand MS SQL is slightly better in performance so it’s a trade off as with most things.
More information about Firebird can be viewed at: http://www.firebirdsql.org/
Note there seems to be a little confusion about the role of the Firebird database server,the Firebird database server is strictly that, a database server. AyaNova itself does not havea “server” component, it’s strictly a stand alone program that shares a database on a database server be it Firebird or Microsoft SQL server.