Installation, Registration, and Licensing Information for
Embarcadero® InterBase® XE3

Published July, 2012

Contents

Before Installation...
  All Platforms General Information System Requirements/Prerequisites Server/Client Compatibility  
Installation Process...
  Installation and Registration Downloading and Installing Using the Installer Install Drivers Using the Wise Installer to Embed InterBase Installing on Japanese Versions Command Line Installation
Registration Process...
  Registration  
Post Install...
  Licensing Users, Processors, and Strong Encryption  
Platform Specifics...
  Mac OS Multi-Instance Install Setup  

All platforms

General Information

For a list of recent bug fixes and updated contact information, please refer to the Readme.html.

For a list of add-ons and licenses you can obtain for InterBase products, see Chapter 2, Licensing, in the InterBase Operations Guide. You receive all six InterBase user guides in PDF format at the time of purchase.

Check http://edn.embarcadero.com/interbase for a variety of information and resources of interest to those who develop and maintain InterBase databases and applications.

Embarcadero maintains several active newsgroups for InterBase users. To access them, go to http://forums.embarcadero.com/.

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System Requirements/Prerequisites

The following table lists the system requirements for installing and running InterBase XE3.

System Area Requirement
Platform Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
Microsoft Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit)
Microsoft Windows XP SP3 (32-bit)
Microsoft Windows Server 2008
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Mac OS Snow Leopard and Mac OS Lion
Processor Microsoft Windows, and Mac OS X: Intel x86 or x86-64
JDK Compatibility All platforms: JDK 6
Hard disk space 44 MB for compact installation
56 MB for full installation (includes PDF help files)

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Server/Client Compatibility

InterClient XE3 server is certified to work with a compatible InterBase XE3 client. Since there are no breaking API changes, earlier versions of InterBase clients may work with the current version of the server also.

IMPORTANT! Mixing InterBase client and server versions is not supported. It is strongly recommended that compatible client and server versions are used for local connections on Windows.

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Installation and Registration

You can install InterBase after downloading it from the web, or by using the InterBase XE3 installer (installing from a CD or DVD).

The InterBase XE3 installer installs InterBase on Windows, and Mac OSX. As part of this installation, you have the opportunity to register the product. InterBase XE3 must be registered before you can start the server; though there is a way to use it without registering during the grace period (read below). If the server is started without entering any licensing information an error message with the registration key is logged in interbase.log. This registration code along with your serial number may then be used to register your software on any computer by going to http://reg.embarcadero.com.

Installing and registering the product provides a base level of functionality; the exact level of functionality depends on whether you are installing the Desktop Edition, ToGo Edition, or the Server Edition. It is important to note that the Desktop and TOGo editions are only available for the Windows operating systems.

To add more users, more processors, or strong encryption, you need to purchase additional appropriate licenses from the Embarcadero shop site or from your sales representative. The license key and registration are explained in the "Licensing" chapter of the Operations Guide. You will find this and the other InterBase books in the <interbase_home>/doc directory. See Licensing users, processors, and strong encryption below for more details.

Note: For older InterBase version users - InterBase XE3 licenses are not compatible with earlier InterBase version licenses. InterBase XE3 requires new license purchase.

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Downloading and Installing

The following instructions guide you through the process of downloading, installing, and registering InterBase XE3.

Note about the InterBase ToGo Edition: The InterBase ToGo edition includes two (2) zip files: ibtogo.zip and ibtogo_min.zip. The ibtogo.zip file includes all the files you need for development using the InterBase ToGo edition. The ibtogo_min.zip file includes the minimal set of files required to deploy the InterBase ToGo edition. To install the InterBase ToGo edition, extract the appropriate zip file to a location as specified in the "Client/Server Concepts" chapter of the InterBase Developer's Guide.

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Using the Installer

The following instructions guide you through the process of installing and registering InterBase using the cross-platform installer. You are encouraged to use this installer when possible. See Command-line installation for instructions on how to run the installation from a console window.

  1. Preparing to install:
  2. Run the install program: 3On Windows platforms, run install_windows.exe. On Mac OSX platform, run install_mac_osx.sh.
  3. When you first run the install program, the opening panel displays the following options:
    Button What it does
    Install Embarcadero InterBase XE3 Installs the main InterBase XE3 product.
    InterBase XE3 on the web Connects you to http://www.embarcadero.com/interbase.
    Setup Information Displays this file. InterBase strongly recommends that you look this over before proceeding with the installation.
    Exit Exits Installation.
  4. Select the "Install Embarcadero InterBase XE3 Server" button and follow the prompts to accept the license agreement. In the Choose Install Set panel, choose "Server and Client," "Client Only," "Register," or "Custom."
  5. Choose an install location and click Next to proceed to the review panel. In most cases, the defaults chosen for you by the Install Wizard will be appropriate. If you see anything that you need to change, click the Back button to return to the earlier panels.
  6. Once the Review panel shows you the desired configuration, click Install. The installer completes the product installation and then displays the Product Registration dialog.
  7. In the Registration panel, enter the Serial Number and Key from the email you received from Embarcadero.
  8. InterBase XE3 includes a registration grace period of 14 days if you add a valid serial number after installing the product, but do not choose to register at that time. If you use the License Manager utility to add your serial number, be sure to choose the File > Save command afterward or the grace period will not be in effect.

Registration

  1. Enter your Embarcadero Developer Network account credentials in the Login or Email and Password fields. If you have not previously created an EDN account, or have forgotten your password, click I need to create... or I've lost my password.
  2. Click Register and your activation file should be downloaded and installed automatically. If this does not happen, click the Trouble Connecting? link in the Product Registration dialog.

    Click here to view frequently asked questions about registering your InterBase XE3 product.

Install Drivers

Return to the opening panel if it is still displayed and choose the connectivity drivers that you want to install. Otherwise, run the InterBase installer again and choose the "Install InterBase Connectivity Drivers" button. Choose a driver to install and follow the prompts. Note that the JDBC driver is automatically installed, so it is not displayed as a driver choice.

The InterBase installer provides the following drivers:

ADO.NET driver for InterBase
InterBase ODBC Driver

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Using the Wise Installer to Embed InterBase

InterBase XE3 includes a Windows/English-only installer to help make embedding InterBase easy. The installer is located in the: Disk1\InstData\Windows\VM directory of the CD and is named, "ib_install.exe".

Command line options for ib_install.exe:

You can define custom parameter values (say values.txt) as follows. The default values are:

where the variables are defined as:

MAINDIR - The location of the InterBase Root Directory
TCP_PORT - default is 3050
INSTANCE - default is gds_db
COMPONENTS - This is a comma separated list of the Components that will be installed.

The options for COMPONENTS are:

For example, if the following values are saved in a file named values.txt, and you execute the command: ib_install.exe /s /m=values.txt, you will launch the silent installer with the settings from this file. If the values file is not found, the Silent Install will assume the default values as detailed above.

You can also provide custom values via such files to the GUI installer by executing ib_install.exe without the /s flag.

Note: To include a license activation file (*.slip) with your installation, save the activation file into the directory where the ib_install.exe file is located.

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Installing on Japanese Versions

Using the Java Installer for Japanese Windows installations.

Property Files

The installer is named ib_install.exe on Windows platforms. Using a property file that contains the variables for a specific install can customize the installer. Property files should be placed in the same directory as the installer. Sample property files are available under the extras directory of the InterBase CD.

Calling the Installer with a Property File

Windows example (Japanese installation only):

 ib_install.exe -f ib_install.properties 

Installer_UI

The mode that InstallAnywhere-based installer should run in:

Example:

 INSTALLER_UI=silent

CHOSEN_INSTALL_SET

The Install set that wish to use:

Example:

The location of the slip file that you will be using for InterBase.

Example:

 SLIP_FILENAME=C:\\slipdir\\myslipfile.slip

USER_INSTALL_DIR

This is the install location for InterBase.

The default is C:\\Embarcadero\\InterBase

MULTI_INSTANCE

Set to No by Default. If you want to take advantage of the InterBase XE3 Multi-Instance feature, set MULTI_INSTANCE=Yes. It is important to set the LABEL and PORT variables to something other than the default to not interfere with other version of InterBase running on the system.

SERVER_TCP_PORT

Default is 3050. This only needs to be set if MULTI_INSTANCE is set to Yes. Please choose a Port number that will not interfere with other programs on the server machine.

INSTANCE_NAME

Default is gds_db. This only needs to be set if MULTI_INSTANCE is set to Yes.

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Finishing Up

This completes your InterBase installation and registration. You now need to install any licenses that you have purchased for users, processors, and Internet use. Please see Licensing Users and Processors for information on licensing.

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Licensing Users, Processors, and Strong Encryption

For more information about InterBase options, please visit the Embarcadero InterBase Portal. The Licensing chapter in Operations Guide PDF manual covers this topic in more detail. You can purchase licenses to enable additional simultaneous users and additional processors through the Embarcadero web site or through your sales representative.

You will have the following basic functionality after you register:

Sanctuary eSlip Activation

The Sanctuary eSlip activation, also known as Silent Activation, is now supported in InterBase XE3 on Windows. eSlip activation happens the first time the host application (InterBase server) initializes the licensing subsystem. On Windows, a dialog opens (LicenseReg.exe) and automatically registers the eSlip via a network connection to the Embarcadero Sanctuary server. The license is then activated for the duration defined when the eSlip was setup for the customer. Once the duration expires, a subsequent call to initialize the license renews the license through the same process. However the LicenseReg.exe dialog does not appear on Windows when it is renewed.

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Mac OS X

InterBase XE3 Mac OS X Multi-Instance Install Setup

In a multi-instance install the /usr/interbase symbolic link is not automatically created to your install location. Set the INTERBASE and DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variables to use that particular instance of InterBase. This does not apply to "single" instance installations.

Running InterBase as a Service

When you install the product, InterBase is setup automatically to run as a service. You will notice that the /Library/StartupItems/ folder on your machine has an entry to run the InterBase server whenever the system boots up.

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