  Outbursts in two classes of interacting binary systems, the symbiotic stars
(SSs) and the cataclysmic variables (CVs), show a number of similarities in
spite of very different orbital periods. Typical values for SSs are in the
order of years, whereas for CVs they are of a few hours. Both systems undergo
unpredictable outbursts, characterized by a brightening in the optical by 1 - 3
and 7 - 15 mag for SSs and CVs, respectively. By modelling the multiwavelength
SED of selected examples from both groups of these interacting binaries, I
determine their basic physical parameters at a given time of the outburst
evolution. In this way I show that the principal difference between outbursts
of these objects is their violence, whereas the ionization structure of their
ejecta is basically very similar. This suggests that the mechanism of the mass
ejection by the white dwarfs in these systems is also similar.
