Firebird on a virtual server

[ale.t...@gmail.com]

Hi All,

We've been using Firebird successfully for many years on dedicated hardware, but is it OK to use it in a virtual server? I didn't find any FAQ or something on the topic.

So, is it safe to run Firebird 3.0+ in a virtual environment (Windows or Linux)?

What are the common pitfalls and things to look for in practice?

Thanks in advance.

Alex

[Elmar Haneke]

We've been using Firebird successfully for many years on dedicated hardware, but is it OK to use it in a virtual server? I didn't find any FAQ or something on the topic.

So, is it safe to run Firebird 3.0+ in a virtual environment (Windows or Linux)?

What are the common pitfalls and things to look for in practice?

Current virtualization is at a level where you presumably can not recognize any difference to a dedicated machine. 

I'm working with such environments for years without any specific problems.

You should take care that OS inside VM is shut down before killing VM.

[Dimitry Sibiryakov]

ale.t...@gmail.com wrote 17.05.2024 9:20:
> We've been using Firebird successfully for many years on dedicated hardware, but
> is it OK to use it in a virtual server?

As usual: either it works well for you or you must have someone who know how
to solve problems. It is a matter of luck.

--
WBR, SD.

[Mathias Pannier (unitel)]

Hello,

 

You can use Firebird on a virtual machine. It will work. We have a lot of customers with VMs (Windows) without trouble.

But it also depends on Your requirements and database usage/load/size. If You have very high load and a really large database, go with a dedicated hardware.

The bottleneck in VMs is usually the hard drive and not the CPU/RAM.

 

Regards

Mathias

 

Von: firebird...@googlegroups.com <firebird...@googlegroups.com> Im Auftrag von ale.t...@gmail.com
Gesendet: Freitag, 17. Mai 2024 09:20
An: firebird-support <firebird...@googlegroups.com>
Betreff: [firebird-support] Firebird on a virtual server

 

ACHTUNG: Diese E-Mail stammt von einem externen Absender. Bitte vermeiden Sie es, Anhänge oder externe Links zu öffnen.

 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "firebird-support" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to firebird-suppo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/firebird-support/1bb5b4c3-e0c4-45b7-8b71-8bd28ed9525dn%40googlegroups.com.

ub.unitel GmbH, Schulstraße 16, 06792 Sandersdorf-Brehna
Geschaeftsfuehrung Klaus Richter, Olaf Meyer
Amtsgericht Stendal
HRB 26389 FA Bitterfeld Steuernr. 116/107/08597 Ust.identNr. DE815796778
Deutsche Bank IBAN DE53 86070024 0 6143234 00
Kreissparkasse Anhalt-Bitterfeld IBAN DE69 80053722 0 3050326 82
_____________________________________________________________________
Dieses E-Mail ist nur für den Empfänger bestimmt, an den es gerichtet
ist und kann vertrauliches bzw. unter das Berufsgeheimnis fallendes
Material enthalten. Jegliche darin enthaltene Ansicht oder Meinungs-
äußerung ist die des Autors und stellt nicht notwendigerweise die
Ansicht oder Meinung von ub.unitel GmbH dar.
Sind Sie nicht der Empfänger, so haben Sie diese E-Mail irrtümlich
erhalten und jegliche Verwendung, Veröffentlichung, Weiterleitung,
Abschrift oder jeglicher Druck dieser E-Mail ist strengstens untersagt.
_____________________________________________________________________

[Matthias Hanft]

ale.t...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> So, is it safe to run Firebird 3.0+ in a virtual environment (Windows or Linux)?

No problems / No differences.

Running for years here (several instances, using VMWare as well as VirtualBox).

-Matt

[ale.t...@gmail.com]

What about making a backup or taking a snapshot of the VM while FB is running?

Will the resulting VM backup be correct?

Best Regards

Alex

[Ertan Küçükoglu]

ale.t...@gmail.com <ale.t...@gmail.com>, 18 May 2024 Cmt, 12:56 tarihinde şunu yazdı:

What about making a backup or taking a snapshot of the VM while FB is running?

Will the resulting VM backup be correct?

That's a VM snapshot. I can hardly think of it as a database backup.

I would suggest to fire up another VM for backup purposes, mount the backup VM in the production VM and take your GBAK backups in that mount.

 

On Friday, May 17, 2024 at 12:50:41 PM UTC+3 goo...@hanft.de wrote:

ale.t...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> So, is it safe to run Firebird 3.0+ in a virtual environment (Windows or Linux)?

No problems / No differences.

Running for years here (several instances, using VMWare as well as VirtualBox).

-Matt

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "firebird-support" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to firebird-suppo...@googlegroups.com.

To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/firebird-support/58628ec8-9be4-4725-bea7-69ec3a58b904n%40googlegroups.com.

[Mark Rotteveel]

On 18/05/2024 11:56, ale.t...@gmail.com wrote:
> What about making a backup or taking a snapshot of the VM while FB is
> running?
>
> Will the resulting VM backup be correct?

The VM itself yes, but you can't guarantee the integrity of the database
file itself unless you set the database in backup mode with `alter
database begin backup`, and disabled it after the snapshot with `alter
database end backup` as that will ensure that the database file isn't
modified during the snapshot. Whether it could lead to inconsistencies
without using backup mode depends on if and how the VM snapshot makes
snapshots of the filesystem within the VM. Having the database itself is
opened in async mode (that is, forced writes disabled) might be another
complicating factor.

Mark
--
Mark Rotteveel

[Stefan Heymann]

> What about making a backup or taking a snapshot of the VM while FB is running?

> Will the resulting VM backup be correct?

No. I don't rely on getting a restorable database with that. When Firebird is writing to the database file during the snapshot you will have garbage in your snapshot.

What you can do:

(1) do a GBAK and schedule it to be finished before the VM image is created

This will create a consistent snapshot that is always good to have. It will take some time (depending on DB size) and will degrade db performance while it's running. But it is a solid solution. The database file will be backed up by the snapshot anyway so you have two files to choose from after a crash. If the fdb file can be backed up and restored (using GBAK) without errors, it has survived and is probably more recent than the fbk file.

(2) use NBAK

I hear strange things about NBAK so I don't use it at all. So you'll have to RTFM how that works ...

(3) call "alter database begin backup" before the VM snapshot and "alter database end backup" after it is done

This will close the DB file and use temp disk space for all subsequent transactions. After the "end backup", everything is transferred into the regular DB file. The backup itself is then just a file copy of your .fdb file.

(4) use GFIX to do a full shuwtdown of your databases before the VM snapshot and bring them back online after it's done.

The backup itself is just a file copy of your .fdb file. Your database will not be usable during the backup. But nothing needs to be transferred back into the database after you go online again.


HTH

Best Regards

Stefan

[Dimitry Sibiryakov]

Stefan Heymann wrote 22.05.2024 16:11:
>> Will the resulting VM backup be correct?
> No. I don't rely on getting a restorable database with that. When Firebird is writing to the database file during the snapshot you will have garbage in your snapshot.

If "VM backup" includes RAM snapshot then for guest OS it looks like nothing
happen (except network connections being lost), all data in memory and execution
flow is preserved so Firebird just continue to work.

--
WBR, SD.

[Stefan Heymann]

I don't think the VM snapshot is able to store the contents of the FDB file and the RAM contents so fast that this will fit together.

Best Regards

Stefan