| Firebird Documentation Index → Firebird 2 Migration & Installation → Installing on Windows |
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Table of Contents
Please read the previous chapters before you set out to install Firebird 2.0.x or 2.1.x.
V.2.1.2 Installation Improvements
The Firebird 2.1 series are built using the Microsoft MSVC8 compiler. Microsoft introduced new rules for distributing the runtimes associated with this compiler on XP and Vista platforms. This introduced much more complexity and bloat into Firebird V.2.1.0 and 2.1.1 installations for these platform versions.
For the V.2.1.2 release, efforts have been made to improve the options, document them and to reduce the “weight” of installations, particularly for Windows Embedded deployments. Please refer to the later section entitled Microsoft Runtime Libraries.
On Windows, you have three server models to choose from: Superserver, Classic and Embedded Server. This means you have some decisions to make before installing Firebird 2.1.
The Embedded Server model is intended for conditions where you want to deploy the server, a database (or databases) and your own application together for use on on a single computer with only one user. It does not run on its own. If you are new to Firebird, it is recommended that you regard this model as one you can design for, using one of the full server models for initial acquaintance and development. The setup instructions for deployment of applications using Embedded are discussed towards the end of this chapter.
Under almost all circumstances you should use the binary installer to install Firebird on Windows. If you are new to Firebird you should certainly use the binary installer until you are familiar with a standard Firebird server installation. It covers all common usage cases and is typically 'click-through' by accepting the default values.
Cases when you might wish to consider installing Firebird manually from a zip file include:
You need to run multiple versions of Firebird concurrently
You wish to run the Firebird service as a special user
You need to deploy a specific configuration for your application
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| Firebird Documentation Index → Firebird 2 Migration & Installation → Installing on Windows |