These are the essential steps to get up and running as a refdb user:
Ask your refdb administrator to grant access to an existing reference database or have him create one for you.
If the application server refdbd is not installed to run as a daemon, start it now: refdbd -s & (see Starting refdbd for more options).
Start the refdbc command line client to manage and retrieve references.
Add references to the database.
Retrieve references according to your search criteria.
Create bibliographies with the references in your database.
Note: There is a tutorial for first-time users available at the refdb documentation page.