ODBC external server definitions

The most common way of defining an ODBC-based remote server is to base it on an ODBC data source. To do this, you can create a data source using the ODBC Data Source Administrator.

Once you have defined the data source, the USING clause in the CREATE SERVER statement should refer to the ODBC Data Source Name (DSN).

For example, to configure an IBM DB2 server named mydb2 whose data source name is also mydb2, use:

CREATE SERVER mydb2
CLASS 'DB2ODBC'
USING 'mydb2';

The driver used must match the bitness of the database server.

On Windows, you must also define a System Data Source Name (System DSN) with a bitness matching the database server. For example, use the 32-bit ODBC Data Source Administrator to create a 32-bit System DSN. A User DSN does not have bitness.

Using connection strings instead of data sources

An alternative, which avoids using data source names, is to supply a connection string in the USING clause of the CREATE SERVER statement. To do this, you must know the connection parameters for the ODBC driver you are using. For example, a connection to a SQL Anywhere database server may be as follows:

CREATE SERVER TestSA
CLASS 'SAODBC'
USING 'DRIVER=SQL Anywhere 16;HOST=myhost;Server=TestSA;DBN=sample';

This defines a connection to a database server named TestSA, running on a computer called myhost, and a database named sample using the TCP/IP protocol.

ODBC external server definitions

Using connection strings instead of data sources

See also