Firebird database migration

We offer Firebird database migration service to migrate a database from one Firebird (or InterBase) version to another - for example, from Firebird 1.5 to Firebird 2.5 or Firebird 3.0. (send request now).

Such migration can significantly improve database performance, increase reliability, and enable new monitoring features of Firebird 2.5 or 3.0.

Old versions of Firebird have many differences from the most recent version (2.5): keywords, metadata rules, ambiguous fields, wrong BLOB subtypes, changes in string casting, optimizer rules, and more. For databases with national character sets (like WIN1251, WIN1252, etc) it is also important to carefully migrate metadata.

The migration includes the following steps:

  • 1) Migration of the database
    • Migration of metadata
      • i. Domains
      • ii. Tables
      • iii. Views
      • iv. Triggers
      • v. Stored procedures
      • vi. Exceptions, etc
    • Migration of data
    • Verification
  • 2) Migration of the application
    • Find and fix incorrect SQL queries
    • Find and fix non-optimal queries
    • Verification
  • 3) Post-migration steps
    • Firebird configuration file optimization
    • Backup and maintenance procedures adjustments

It is important to say that the migration is usually possible only when the source of the application is available since usually it requires changes in SQL queries texts, related to new keywords and optimizer changes. However, each case of the migration is unique, and we will consider all requests.

How long does Firebird migration take and how much it costs?

Cost and time to migrate really depends on the following parameters:

  1. metadata size and complexity (how many tables, stored procedures, triggers, etc),
  2. a number of SQL queries to be checked and fixed.

The minimal migration time is 6 workdays, the average migration time is 15-20 workdays.

This estimation includes only the pure work time of the IBSurgeon team, the actual time is usually longer since the customer checks intermediate results of the migration.

The cost of migration usually is in the range from EUR 800 to EUR 3000 (per database schema).
To get an exact  estimation of cost and time please send us request by email, and supply us with metadata only backup of the database to be migrated:

Send request now!

Below you can find our presentation from Firebird Conference 2012 about the migration of Firebird 1.5 database to Firebird 2.5:
 

Firebird migration: from Firebird 1.5 to Firebird 2.5 from Nataly Polyanskaya