Why Vertec relies on Firebird as its database server

Vertec has been relying on Firebird as its standard database server for decades. Firebird is also used in our Cloud Suite and convinces with very good performance and stability values (see e.g. Entry in the vertec forum ). For large to very large Vertec installations, a Microsoft SQL server can also be run (for the differences see our Knowledge base entry “database – firebird or ms sql server” ). However, why we still prefer Firebird in most cases and why we value Firebird and the project behind it so much, I would like to explain in this article.

Firebird is an OPEN SOURCE project with the aim of developing the Firebird database server. The project is supported by the Firebird Foundation  supported by Vertec  “Silver Sponsor” . The Foundation is run by a committee that shows that this is truly a global project– members are spread all over the world – from Brazil to the USA, to various Western, Northern and Eastern European countries and Australia. Through our involvement in the Foundation, we have learned about the processes and the people behind the project and have become more involved.

The background of the project

The Foundation accepts membership fees and sponsorship fees and grants awards for development, testing and documentation Team Members . In addition, this group is also open to direct sponsorship of individual features, which must fit to Firebird in order to be suitable for “sponsoring” at all. Vertec has used this opportunity several times to prioritize important features, especially in the area of performance. In total, we have sponsored about 3-5 features in the last few years, where we were closely involved in the development and testing of these features. However, as is usual with OPEN SOURCE projects, all Firebird users benefit from these developments. Up to date there is only one ticket sponsored by us in progress (Pull Request ) and we are waiting for 2 more tickets, which may not come with Firebird 6.0 (#7332 &  #7580 ). Important for us would be  #7332 , there is already a pull request, but it has been rejected for the time being – so we still have to do some convincing work here.

The big advantages of Firebird

In addition to the fact that we can have a very good influence on how the product is further developed (which is different to Microsoft SQL Server), we are also excited about Firebird for the following reasons:

• Stability: We cannot think of a case where a Firebird server in operation has crashed.
• Performance: For the vast majority of operations, Firebird is faster than, for example, MS SQL Server, which usually has to deal with much more overhead.
• Ease of use: A Firebird database (usually Vertec.fdb) can be easily and securely copied and moved as soon as the Firebird service has been turned off. There is also a large number of client tools, for complex operations we like to use Ibexpert , for simpler operations, we are impressed by Firebird Editor Pro , which we will also supply with the Vertec Setup for On-Premises customers in the future. In addition, you do not have to worry about anything during operation (in contrast to MS SQL server, where the Transaction Log  needs to be taken care of. We know from experience that several customers have had issues with that which may lead to a total system failure). Restoring backups is straight-forward too, also with scheduling (see Entry in our knowledge base) .
• Easy to upgrade: Like us, the Firebird project pursues a policy of quality and backward compatibility. We have never had any problems updating to a newer Firebird version.
• Support: In the Firebird environment, there are several companies with people who are involved in developing. Here, you can also get (of course paid) support. Quite often our questions (e.g. why a certain query does not use certain indexes) go straight to the core developers, and we always get a profound answer.
• Further development: Firebird 5.0 has been available since the beginning of 2024, but developers and yet looking at 6.0 (see Roadmap ). We and the Vertec customers will not benefit directly from all developments, but it is important to us that the project is pushed forward, and that Firebird continues to evolve.

We are very happy to have Firebird as a stable, fast and free alternative to MS SQL Server, and would like to take this opportunity to thank the creators of Firebird for their dedication and good cooperation!