Buffers

The buffers/cache can be set using the IBExpert menu item Database Properties, found in the Services menu, or using the command-line utility GFIX. The amount of buffers/cache reserved can be viewed in IBExpert here. The IBExpert Performance Analysis also displays the number of data pages that are being held as cache on the server (from InterBase® 6 onwards the standard is 2,048). Please refer to Performance Analysis / Additional for further information. This can be altered for the current database if wished.

If this is increased the database can load considerably more pages. For instance, it is much more efficient to load 10,000 pages, than loading 2,000 and then exchanging for new pages once the 2,000 have been loaded. The only limit to amount of cache is the physical size of the RAM. The total KB is calculated according to the current database page size. For an alteration to become effective, it is therefore necessary for all users to disconnect from the database and then reconnect.

Buffers are only reserved if they are really necessary.

When specifying buffers for an individual database, always use the IBExpert Database Properties menu item or GFIX. If you specify buffers in the firebird.conf, it applies to all databases using that Firebird server.