How To Install FireBird on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

In this tutorial, we will show you how to install FireBird on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Firebird is a relational database offering many ANSI SQL standard features that run on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Firebird supports application programs and triggers, as well as many ANSI SQL standard features. Its multi-generational design enables simultaneous OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) and OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) activities.

This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you the step-by-step installation of the FireBird database on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

Prerequisites

• A server running one of the following operating systems: Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.
• It’s recommended that you use a fresh OS install to prevent any potential issues.
• SSH access to the server (or just open Terminal if you’re on a desktop).
• An active internet connection.
• A non-root sudo user or access to the root user. We recommend acting as a non-root sudo user, however, as you can harm your system if you’re not careful when acting as the root.

Install FireBird on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa

Step 1. First, make sure that all your system packages are up-to-date by running the following apt commands in the terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Step 2. Installing FireBird on Ubuntu 20.04.

By default, FireBird is available on the default Ubuntu repository. Run the following command below to install it:

sudo apt install firebird-server

During installation, you will be prompted to set the Firebird database password as shown below:

After Firebird is installed on your system, run the following command to update the security database:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure firebird3.0-server

Step 3. Configure FireBird Database.

Firebird can store and access your databases from anywhere SQLite style, but can also restrict their location. Run the following command to edit firebird.conf:

sudo nano /etc/firebird/3.0/firebird.conf

Add the following files:

 Database Paths/Directories
#
# DatabaseAccess may be None, Full or Restrict. If you choose Restrict,
# provide ';'-separated trees list, where database files are stored.
# Relative paths are treated relative to the root directory of Firebird.
# Default value 'Full' gives full access to all files on your site.
# To specify access to specific trees, enum all required paths 
# (for Windows this may be something like 'C:\DataBase;D:\Mirror',
# for unix - '/db;/mnt/mirrordb'). If you choose 'None', then only
# databases listed in databases.conf can be attached.
#
# Note: simple quotation marks shown above should *NOT* be used when
# specifying values and directory path names. Examples:
#
#Uncomment #DatabaseAccess = Full below by removing #
# DatabaseAccess = None
# DatabaseAccess = Restrict C:\DataBase
# DatabaseAccess = Restrict C:\DataBase;D:\Mirror
# DatabaseAccess = Restrict /db
# DatabaseAccess = Restrict /db;/mnt/mirrordb
DatabaseAccess = Full

Save the changes and close the file. Then, to apply the changes, just restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart firebird3.0
sudo systemctl enable firebird3.0

Step 4. Creating FireBird Databases.

First, log in to the Firebird database using the following command below:

sudo isql-fb

We proceed to create the new database with the following syntax:

CREATE DATABASE ['database_path.fdb'] USER ['user'] PASSWORD ['your-password'];

Next, create a database “testdb” with user “idroot-user” and password “Your-Strong-Password“ :

CREATE DATABASE '/home/godet/Documents/testdb.fdb' USER 'idroot-user' PASSWORD 'Your-Strong-Password';

After that, connecting to the database created:

SQL> CONNECT '/home/frank/Documents/testdb.fdb' USER 'idroot-user' PASSWORD 'Your-Strong-Password';
Commit current transaction (y/n)?y
Committing.
Database: '/home/godet/Documents/testdb.fdb', User: idroot-user

Congratulations! You have successfully installed FireBird. Thanks for using this tutorial for installing the FireBird database on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa system. For additional help or useful information, we recommend you check the official FireBird website.