Choosing a Network Protocol

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InterBase supports two protocols: TCP/IP when connecting to any server, and NetBEUI when connecting to a Windows server. See Network Protocols for more details.

NetBEUI

You can use NetBEUI on a network with fewer than 20 users without significant performance costs. Use TCP/IP if you have more active users on your network simultaneously.

NetBEUI is a network protocol designed for use on small local area networks. It is commonly used for filesharing services. It is a connectionless protocol, which means that it broadcasts packets to the entire network. This causes a growing amount of “noise” on a LAN. Noise, from the point of view of any given host, can be defined as network traffic that is not intended for that host. On a LAN with many hosts, enabling NetBEUI can overwhelm the network and reduce the available bandwidth for everyone to use. On most enterprise networks, IT experts discourage the use of NetBEUI.

TCP/IP

TCP/IP is a connection-based protocol, which means packets are routed to the intended recipient. This reduces the saturation of the network and the load on individual hosts. There is effectively more bandwidth available to all hosts, and a large number of hosts can share the same network with less performance penalty.