Getting started

Overview

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway allows applications that support ODBC to connect to any data store that supports JDBC.

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway uses a JDBC driver to connect to the data store. You specify which JDBC driver to use by configuring an ODBC data source for the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway.

For example, you want to connect SQL Server to Data Lake. You would create a Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway ODBC data source that points at the JDBC driver for Data Lake. You would then tell SQL Server to use the ODBC data source, which then connects to Data Lake by using JDBC.

Installing the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installer lets you install both the client and server components of the product.

Install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway client on the same computer as your Java application. Install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway server on the same computer as your target ODBC driver. If the Java application and ODBC driver are located on the same computer, install both the client and server on this computer.

Installing on Windows

The Windows installation can be done by anyone with local administrator privileges.

  1. Download the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installer.

  2. Follow the onscreen instructions to progress through the installation wizard.

Updating files that are in use

To avoid rebooting your computer, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installer prompts you when files that it needs to update are in use by another application or service. This frees the locked files and allows the installation to complete without a system restart. The installer uses the Restart Manager to locate the applications that are using files that need updating. These applications are displayed in the Files in Use dialog box. To avoid a system restart, choose Automatically close applications and attempt to restart them after setup is complete. The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installer then uses Restart Manager to try to stop and restart each application or service in the list. If possible, Restart Manager restores applications to the same state that they were in before it shut them down.

Licensing

By default, the installer starts the Easysoft License Manager, because you can’t use the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway until you have a license. If you choose not to run Easysoft License Manager as part of the installation process, run License Manager from the Easysoft group in the Windows Start menu when you’re ready to license the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway. These types of license are available:

  • A free time-limited trial license which gives you free and unrestricted use of the product for a limited period (usually 14 days).

  • A full license if you have purchased the product. On purchasing the product you are given an authorization code, which you use to obtain a license.

To license the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway:

  1. In License Manager, enter your contact details.

    You must complete the Name, E-Mail Address, and Company fields.

    The e-mail address must be the same as the one used to register at the Easysoft web site. Otherwise, you won’t be able to obtain a trial license.

  2. Choose Request License.

    You’re prompted to choose a license type.

  3. Do one of the following:

    • For a trial license, choose Time Limited Trial, and then choose Next.
      -Or-

    • For a purchased license, choose Non-expiring License, and then choose Next.

  4. Choose your product from the drop-down list when prompted, and then choose Next.

  5. For a purchased license, enter your authorization code when prompted, and then choose Next.

  6. Choose how to get your license when prompted.

  7. Do one of the following:

    • Choose On-line Request if your machine is connected to the internet and can make outgoing connections to port 8884.
      With this method, License Manager automatically requests and then applies your license.
      -Or-

    • Choose View Request. Then open a web browser and go to https://www.easysoft.com/support/licensing/trial_license.html or https://www.easysoft.com/support/licensing/full_license.html, as appropriate. In the web page, enter your machine number (labelled Number in the license request). For purchased licenses, you also need to enter your authorization code (labelled Ref in the license request).
      We’ll automatically email your license to the email address you supplied in License Manager.
      -Or-

    • Choose Email Request to email your license request to our licensing team.
      Once we’ve processed you request, we’ll email your license to the email address you supplied in License Manager.

  8. Close the License Manager windows and then choose Finish.

If you chose either View Request or Email Request, apply your license by double-clicking the email attachment when you get the license email from us. Alternatively, start License Manager from the Easysoft folder in the Windows Start menu. Then choose Enter License and paste the license in the space provided.

Once you’ve licensed the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, the installation is complete.

Repairing the installation

The installer can repair a broken Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installation. For example, you can use the installer to restore missing Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway files or registry keys. To do this:

  1. In the Windows taskbar, enter Add or remove programs in the Windows search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in the list, and then choose Repair.

Uninstalling on Windows

This section explains how to remove the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway from your system.

Removing the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway

  1. In the Windows taskbar, enter Add or remove programs in the Windows search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in the list, and then choose Uninstall.

Easysoft product licenses are stored in the Windows registry. When you uninstall, your licenses are not removed, so you do not need to relicense the product if you reinstall or upgrade.

Installing on Linux or UNIX

The installation can be done by anyone with root access.

  1. Download the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway distribution for your client application platform.

    If your client application is 64-bit, choose the 64-bit driver distribution from the Platforms list. If your client application is 32-bit, choose the 32-bit driver distribution form the Platforms list.

  2. Copy the distribution to a temporary directory on the machine where the application you want to connect to ODBC-JDBC Gateway is installed.

  3. Unpack the distribution and cd into the resultant directory.

  4. As root, run:

    ./install

  5. Follow the onscreen instructions to progress through the installation.

Further information

Preinstallation requirements

To install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway you need:

  • The Bourne shell in /bin/sh. If your Bourne shell is not located there, you may need to edit the first line of the installation script.

  • Various commonly used commands such as:

    grep, awk, test, cut, ps, sed, cat, wc, uname, tr, find, echo, sum, head, tee, id

If you do not have any of these commands, they can usually be obtained from the Free Software Foundation. As the tee command does not work correctly on some systems, the distribution includes a tee replacement.

  • Depending on the platform, you’ll need up to 10 MB of temporary space for the installation files and up to 10 MB of free disk space for the installed programs. If you also install the unixODBC Driver Manager, these numbers increase by approximately 1.5 MB.

  • For Easysoft licensing to work, you must do one of the following:

    • Install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in /usr/local/easysoft.

    • Install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway elsewhere and symbolically link /usr/local/easysoft to wherever you chose to install the software.

The installation will do this automatically for you so long as you run the installation as someone with permission to create /usr/local/easysoft.

  • Install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway elsewhere and set the EASYSOFT_ROOT environment variable. For more information about setting the EASYSOFT_ROOT environment variable, refer to Post installation steps for non-root installations.

    • An ODBC Driver Manager.

Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway distributions include the unixODBC Driver Manager.

  • You do not have to be the root user to install, but you will need permission to create a directory in the chosen installation path. Also, if you are not the root user, it may not be possible for the installation to:

    1. Register the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway with unixODBC.

    2. Create the example data source in the SYSTEM odbc.ini file.

    3. Update the dynamic linker entries (some platforms only).

If you are not root, these tasks will have to be done manually later.

We recommend that you install all components as the root user.

What you can install

This distribution contains:

  • The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway.

  • The unixODBC Driver Manager.

You need an ODBC Driver Manager to use the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway from your applications. The distribution therefore contains the unixODBC Driver Manager. Most (if not all) UNIX and Linux applications support the unixODBC Driver Manager. For example, Perl DBD::ODBC, PHP, Python, and so on.

You do not have to install the unixODBC Driver Manager included with this distribution. You can use an existing copy of unixODBC. For example, a version of unixODBC installed by another Easysoft product, a version obtained from your operating system vendor or one that you built yourself. However, as Easysoft ensure that the unixODBC distributed with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway has been tested with that driver, we recommend you use it.

If you choose to use an existing unixODBC Driver Manager, the installation script will attempt to locate it. The installation script looks for the ODBC Driver Manager in the standard places. If you have installed it in a non-standard location, the installation script prompts you for the location. The installation primarily needs unixODBC’s odbcinst command to install drivers and data sources.

Where to install

This installation needs a location for the installed files. The default location is /usr/local.

At the start of the installation, you’re prompted for an installation path. All files are installed in a subdirectory of your specified path called easysoft. For example, if you accept the default location /usr/local, the product will be installed in /usr/local/easysoft and below.

If you choose a different installation path, the installation script tries to symbolically link /usr/local/easysoft to the easysoft subdirectory in your chosen location. This allows us to distribute binaries with built in dynamic linker run paths. If you are not root or the path /usr/local/easysoft already exists and is not a symbolic link, the installation will be unable to create the symbolic link. For information about how to correct this manually, refer to Post installation steps for non-root installations.

Note that you cannot license Easysoft products until either of the following is true:

  • /usr/local/easysoft exists either as a symbolic link to your chosen installation path or as the installation path itself.

  • You have set EASYSOFT_ROOT to installation_path/easysoft.

Changes made to your system

The installation script installs files in subdirectories of the path requested at the start of the installation, Depending on what is installed, a few changes may be made to your system:

  1. If you choose to install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway into unixODBC, unixODBC’s odbcinst command will be run to add an entry to your odbcinst.ini file. You can locate this file with odbcinst -j. (odbcinst is in installation_path/easysoft/unixODBC/bin, if you are using the unixODBC included with this distribution.)

  2. The installation script installs an example data source into unixODBC. This data source will be added to your SYSTEM odbc.ini file. You can locate your SYSTEM odbc.ini file by using odbcinst -j. The data source will look similar to this:

  3. Dynamic linker. On operating systems where the dynamic linker has a file listing locations for shared objects (Linux and FreeBSD), the installation script will attempt to add paths under the path you provided at the start of the installation to the end of this list.

    • On Linux, this is usually the file /etc/ld.so.conf.

    • On FreeBSD this is usually the file /etc/defaults/rc.conf.

Installing alongside other existing Easysoft product installations

Each Easysoft distribution contains common files shared between Easysoft products. These shared objects are placed in installation_path/easysoft/lib. When you run the installation script, the dates and versions of these files are compared with the same files in the distribution. The files are only updated if the files being installed are newer or have a later version number.

You should ensure that nothing on your system is using Easysoft software before starting an installation. This is because on some platforms, files in use cannot be replaced. If a file cannot be updated, you get a warning during the installation. All warnings are written to a file called warnings in the directory you unpacked the distribution into.

If the installer detects you’re upgrading a product, the installer will suggest you delete the product directory to avoid having problems with files in use. An alternative is to rename the specified directory.

If you are upgrading, you will need a new license from Easysoft to use the new driver.

Gathering information required during the installation

During the installation, you’re prompted for various pieces of information. Before installing, you need to find out whether you have unixODBC already installed and where it is installed. The installation script searches standard places like /usr and /usr/local.

However, if you installed the Driver Manager in a non-standard place and you do not install the included unixODBC, you will need to know the location.

Unpacking the distribution The distribution for UNIX and Linux platforms is a tar file. To extract the installation files from the tar file, use:

tar -xvf odbc-jdbc-gateway-2.8.0-linux-x86-64-ul64.tar

This creates a directory with the same name as the tar file (without the .tar postfix) containing further archives, checksum files, an installation script and various other installation files.

Change into the directory created by unpacking the tar file to run the installation script. For example:

# cd odbc-jdbc-gateway-2.8.0-linux-x86-64-ul64

License to use

The end-user license agreement (EULA) is in the file license.txt. Be sure to understand the terms of the agreement before continuing, as you’re required to accept the license terms at the start of the installation.

Answering questions during the installation

Throughout the installation, you’re prompted to answer some questions. In each case, the default choice displays in square brackets and you need only press Enter to accept the default. If there are alternative responses, these are shown in round brackets; to choose one of these, type the response and press Enter.

For example:

Do you want to continue? (y/n) [n]:

The possible answers to this question are y or n. The default answer when you type nothing and press Enter is n.

Running the installer

If you are considering running the installation as a non root user, we suggest you review this carefully as you will have to get a root user to manually complete some parts of the installation afterwards. We recommend installing as the root user. (If you’re concerned about the changes that will be made to your system, refer to Changes made to your system.)

To start the installation, run:

./install

You need to:

  • Confirm your acceptance of the license agreement by typing "yes" or "no". For more information about the license agreement, refer to License to use.

  • Supply the location where the software is to be installed.

We recommend accepting the default installation path.

For more information, refer to Where to install.

Locating or installing unixODBC

We strongly recommend you use the unixODBC Driver Manager because:

  • The installation script is designed to work with unixODBC and can automatically add Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway and data sources during the installation.

  • Most applications and interfaces that support ODBC are compatible with unixODBC. The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway and any data sources that you add during the installation are automatically available to your applications and interfaces therefore.

  • The unixODBC project is currently led by Easysoft developer Nick Gorham. This means that there is a great deal of experience at Easysoft of unixODBC in general and of supporting the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway running under unixODBC. It also means that if you find a problem in unixODBC, it’s much easier for us to facilitate a fix.

The installation starts by searching for unixODBC. There are two possible outcomes here:

  1. If the installation script finds unixODBC, the following message displays:

    Found unixODBC under path and it is version n.n.n

  2. If the installation script can’t find unixODBC in the standard places, you will be asked whether you have it installed.

If unixODBC is installed, you need to provide the unixODBC installation path. Usually, the path required is the directory above where odbcinst is installed. For example, if odbcinst is in /opt/unixODBC/bin/odbcinst, the required path is /opt/unixODBC.

If unixODBC is not installed, you should install the unixODBC included with this distribution.

If you already have unixODBC installed, you do not have to install the unixODBC included with the distribution, but you might consider doing so if your version is older than the one we provide.

The unixODBC in the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway distribution is not built with the default options in unixODBC’s configure line.

Option Description

--prefix=/etc

This means the default SYSTEM odbc.ini file where SYSTEM data sources are located is /etc/odbc.ini.

--enable-drivers=no

This means other ODBC drivers that come with unixODBC are not installed.

--enable-iconv=no

This means unixODBC does not look for libiconv. Warnings about not finding an iconv library were confusing our customers.

--enable-stats=no

Turns off unixODBC statistics, which use system semaphores to keep track of used handles. Many systems do not have sufficient semaphore resources to keep track of used handles.

--enable-readline=no

This turns off readline support in isql. We did this because it ties isql to the version of libreadline on the system we build on. We build on as old a version of the operating system as we can for forward compatibility. Many newer Linux systems no longer include the older readline libraries and so turning on readline support makes isql unusable on these systems.

--prefix=/usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC

This installs unixODBC into /usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC.

Installing the Easysoft ODBC driver

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installation script:

  • Installs the driver.

  • Registers the driver with the unixODBC Driver Manager.

    If the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is already registered with unixODBC, a warning displays that lists the drivers unixODBC knows about. If you’re installing the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway into a different directory than it was installed before, you need to edit your odbcinst.ini file after the installation and correct the Driver and Setup paths. unixODBC’s odbcinst doesn’t update these paths if a driver is already registered.

  • Creates an example Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source. If unixODBC is installed and you registered the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway with unixODBC, the installation script adds example data source to your odbc.ini file.

Licensing

The installation_path/easysoft/license/licshell program lets you obtain or list licenses.

Licenses are stored in installation_path/easysoft/license/licenses.

After obtaining a license, you should make a backup copy of this file.

The installation script asks you if you want to request an Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway license:

Would you like to request a Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway license now (y/n) [y]:

You do not need to obtain a license during the installation, you can run licshell after the installation to obtain or view licenses.

If you answer y, the installation runs the licshell script.

To obtain a license automatically, you need to be connected to the Internet and allow outgoing connections to license.easysoft.com on port 8884. If you’re not connected to the Internet or don’t allow outgoing connections on port 8884, the License Client can create a license request file that you can email to us.

When you start the License Client, the following menu displays:

[0] exit
[1] view existing license
[n] obtain a license for the desired product.

To obtain a license, select one of the options from [2] onwards for the product you’re installing. The License Client then runs a program that generates a key that’s used to identify the product and operating system (we need this key to license you).

After you have chosen the product to license (Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway), you need to supply:

  • Your full name.

  • Your company name.

  • An email contact address. This must be the email address that you used when you registered on the Easysoft web site.

  • A reference number (also referred to as an authorization code). When applying for a trial license, press Enter when prompted for a reference number. This field only applies to full (paid) licenses.

You’re then asked to choose how you want to obtain the license.

The choices are:

  • [1] Automatically by contacting the Easysoft License Daemon

    This requires a connection to the Internet and the ability to support an outgoing TCP/IP connection to license.easysoft.com on port 8884.

  • [2] Write information to file

    The license request is output to license_request.txt.

  • [3] Cancel this operation

If you choose to obtain the license automatically, the License Client true to open a TCP/IP connection to license.easysoft.com on port 8884 and send the details you supplied along with your machine number. No other data is sent. The data sent is transmitted as plain text, so if you want to avoid the possibility of this information being intercepted by someone else on the Internet, you should choose [2] and send the the request to us. The License daemon returns the license key, print it to the screen and make it available to the installation script in the file licenses.out.

If you choose option [2], the license request is written to the file license_request.txt. You should then exit the License Client by choosing option [0] and complete the installation. After you have sent the license request to us, we’ll return a license key. Add this to the end of the file installation_path/easysoft/license/licenses.

Post installation steps for non-root installations

If you installed the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway as a non-root user (not recommended), there may be some additional steps you to do manually:

  1. If you attempt to install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway under the unixODBC Driver Manager and you do not have write permission to unixODBC’s odbcinst.ini file, the driver can’t be added.

    You can manually install the driver under unixODBC by adding an entry to the odbcinst.ini file. Run odbcinst -j to find out the location of the DRIVERS file then append the lines from drv_template file to odbcinst.ini. (drv_template is in the directory where the Easysoft distribution was untarred to.)

  2. No example data sources can be added into unixODBC if you do not have write permission to the SYSTEM odbc.ini file. Run odbcinst -j to find out the location of the SYSTEM DATA SOURCES file then add your data sources to this file.

  3. On systems where the dynamic linker has a configuration file defining the locations where it looks for shared objects (Linux and FreeBSD), you need to add:

    installation_path/easysoft/lib
installation_path/easysoft/unixODBC/lib

    The latter entry is only required if you installed the unixODBC included with this distribution. Sometimes, after changing the dynamic linker configuration file, you need to run a program to update the dynamic linker cache. (For example, /sbin/ldconfig on Linux.)

  4. If you didn’t install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in the default location, you need to do one of the following:

    • Link /usr/local/easysoft to the easysoft directory in your chosen installation path.

      For example, if you installed in /home/user, the installation creates /home/user/easysoft and you need to symbolically link /usr/local/easysoft to /home/user/easysoft:

      ln -s /home/user/easysoft /usr/local/easysoft

    • Set and export the EASYSOFT_ROOT environment variable to installation_path/easysoft.

  5. If your system doesn’t have a dynamic linker configuration file, you need to add the paths listed in step 3 to whatever environment path the dynamic linker uses to locate shared objects. You may want to add these paths to a system file run whenever someone logs. For example, /etc/profile.

    The environment variable depends on the dynamic linker. Refer to your ld or ld.so man page. It is usually:

    LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LIBPATH, LD_RUN_PATH, or SHLIB_PATH.

Uninstalling on Linux or UNIX

There is no automated way to remove the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in this release. However, removal is quite simple. To do this:

  1. Change directory to installation_path/easysoft and delete the product directory. installation_path is the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installation directory, by default /usr/local.

  2. If you had to add this path to the dynamic linker search paths (for example, /etc/ld.so.conf on Linux), remove it. You may have to run a linker command such as /sbin/ldconfig to get the dynamic linker to reread its configuration file. Usually, this step can only be done by the root user.

  3. If you were using unixODBC, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway entry needs to be removed from the odbcinst.ini file. To check whether the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is configured under unixODBC, use odbcinst -q -d. If the command output contains [Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway], uninstall the driver from unixODBC by using:

    odbcinst -u -d -n Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway

If a reduced usage count message is displayed, repeat this command until odbcinst reports that the driver has been removed.

  1. If you created any Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data sources under unixODBC, you may want to delete these. To do this, first use odbcinst -j to locate USER and SYSTEM odbc.ini files. Then check those files for data sources that have the driver attribute set to Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway.

  2. Remove the install.info for the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway from the /usr/local/easysoft directory.

Defining the JVM to use

Defining the JVM on Windows

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway uses a JVM to load the target JDBC driver. When you install the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, Setup searches for a compatible JVM. To check which JVM the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is using, run Configure Java Interface from the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway start menu group.

You should also run Configure Java Interface if:

  • You want to use a different or newer JVM with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway. For example, you may want to do this if you have updated your JVM since you ran Setup.

  • You ran Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway Setup without a JVM being installed.

To obtain a JVM, download the JRE from either the Oracle web site or the IBM web site. The JVMs included with these JREs have both been tested with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway.

If you want to use a 64-bit application with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, you need to use the 64-bit Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway with a 64-bit JVM.

If you want to use a 32-bit application with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, you need to use the 32-bit Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway with a 32-bit JVM.

Note that whether you use a 32-bit or 64-bit JVM is irrelevant to the target JDBC driver.

  1. If your application is 64-bit, run the 64-bit version of the Configure Java Interface tool. If your application is 32-bit, run the 32-bit version of the Configure Java Interface tool.

    If the JVM Library Path box is empty or you want to use a different JVM:

  2. If you know the location of the JVM that you want the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway to use, in the JVM Library Path box, enter the path of the JVM. For example:

    C:\Java\jvm.dll

  3. Alternatively, to browse for the JVM, click the …​ button. In the Select JVM dialog box, choose the Browse. In the Known JVM Libs list, double-click the JVM.

    If you are unsure where the JVM is installed, choose the …​ button. In the Select JVM dialog box, choose Search and then browse to the directory you want to search. The search results are displayed in the Known JVM Libs list. In this list, double-click the JVM that you want to use. If the list is empty, search a different directory for JVMs.

  4. To test whether the JVM is compatible with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, choose Test and Save if OK.

    If the test results show that the JVM is incompatible and you have more than one JVM installed, choose Cancel to exit Configure Java Interface. Start Configure Java Interface, click the …​ button and then double-click a different JVM. Choose Test and Save if OK to check the new JVM.

    If your JVM is incompatible and you do not have another JVM installed, you need to obtain a different one.

Defining the JVM on Linux and UNIX

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installation script searches for a compatible JVM during setup. This is stored as JvmPath in the entry for Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in odbcinst.ini (normally located in /etc.) For example:

[Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway}]
Driver = /usr/local/easysoft/ojg/libo2jg.so
Setup = /usr/local/easysoft/ojg/libo2jgS.so
JvmPath = /usr/jdk1.3.1/jre/lib/i386/client/libjvm.so

To specify a different JVM, edit this file.

Setting JVM Options

Usually, you do not need to change any JVM configuration options to use a JVM with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway. If you do need to specify any JVM settings, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway provides the following ways to do this:

On Windows:

  1. Start Configure Java Interface from the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway start menu group.

    To set options for a 64-bit JVM, choose Configure Java Interface (64-bit). To set options for a 32-bit JVM, choose Configure Java Interface.

  2. In the JVM Options box, type the JVM options.

On Linux and UNIX:

  • Add this entry to the [Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway] section in odbcinst.ini:

    JVMOPTIONS = jvmoption

    Separate multiple JVM options with a space. For example:

    -Xmx2048M -Xms1024M

For more information about the available options, refer to the documentation for your JVM.

JVM options specified in the Configure Java Interface dialog box or odbcinst.ini apply to all Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data sources. On Linux and UNIX, you can override the global JVM options for a particular data source, by setting the JVM_OPTIONS environment variable. For example:

JVM_OPTIONS="-Xmx2048M -Xms1024M"
export JVM_OPTIONS

Connecting to your Java data store

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway uses a JDBC driver to connect to the data store. You specify which JDBC driver to use by configuring an ODBC data source for the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway.

Connecting from Linux or UNIX

Creating an ODBC data source

There are two ways to create a data source to your ODBC-JDBC Gateway data:

  • Create a SYSTEM data source, which is available to anyone who logs on to the computer where the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is installed.

    – Or –

  • Create a USER data source, which is only available to the user who is currently logged on to the computer where the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is installed.

By default, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway installation creates a sample SYSTEM data source named ODBC_JDBC_SAMPLE. If you’re using the unixODBC included in the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway distribution, the SYSTEM odbc.ini file is in /etc.

If you built unixODBC yourself, or installed it from some other source, SYSTEM data sources are stored in the path specified with the configure option --sysconfdir=directory. If sysconfdir was not specified when unixODBC was configured and built, it defaults to /usr/local/etc.

If you accepted the default choices when installing the ODBC-JDBC Gateway, USER data sources must be created and edited in $HOME/.odbc.ini.

Notes

  • To display the directory where unixODBC stores SYSTEM and USER data sources, type odbcinst -j.

  • By default, you must be logged in as root to edit a SYSTEM data source defined in /etc/odbc.ini.

You can either edit the sample data source or create new data sources.

Each section of the odbc.ini file starts with a data source name in square brackets [ ] followed by a number of attribute=value pairs.

The Driver attribute identifies the ODBC driver in the odbcinst.ini file to use for a data source. When the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is installed into unixODBC, it places a Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway entry into the odbcinst.ini file. You should always have Driver = Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in your Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data sources therefore.

To configure a Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source, in your odbc.ini file, you need to specify:

Your Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source in odbc.ini must contain these attributes:

  • The directory where the JDBC driver’s .jar file is located (ClassPath)

  • The JDBC driver’s class name (DriverClass)

  • The JDBC driver’s connection URL (URL)

For example:

[ODBC_JDBC_SAMPLE]
Driver          = Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway
ClassPath       = /tmp/infor-compass-jdbc.jar
DriverClass     = com.infor.idl.jdbc
URL     		= jdbc:infordatalake://my_tenant

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway must be able to find the following shared objects:

  • libodbcinst.so

    By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC/lib/libodbcinst.so.

  • libeslicshr.so

    By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/lib/libeslicshr.so.

  • libessupp.so By default, this is located in /usr/local/easysoft/lib/libessupp.so.

You may need to set and export LD_LIBRARY_PATH, SHLIB_PATH, or LIBPATH (depending on your operating system and run-time linker) to include the directories where libodbcinst.so, libeslicshr.so, and libessupp.so are located.

The isql query tool lets you test your Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data sources. To test the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway connection:

  1. Change directory into /usr/local/easysoft/unixODBC/bin.

  2. Enter ./isql -v data_source, where data_source is the name of the target data source.

  3. At the prompt, enter an SQL query. For example:

    SQL> select * from Customers;

    –Or–

  4. Enter help to return a list of tables:

    SQL> help

Connecting from Windows

Creating an ODBC data source

  1. In the Windows taskbar search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If your not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Do one of the following:

    • To create a data source that only the user you’re currently logged in as can access, choose the User tab.
      If your application is a Windows service (for example, SQL Server or Oracle) creating a user data source won’t work, unless the service is running as the same user you’re logged in as.

    • To create a data source that all users on this computer can access, choose the System tab.

  4. Choose Add.

  5. In the list of ODBC drivers, select Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, and then choose Finish.

  6. Complete the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway configuration dialog box.
    To find out how to do this, refer to the Connection attributes section.

  7. To test the connection to ODBC-JDBC Gateway, choose Test.
    Note that this doesn’t test that the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway is licensed. If you haven’t yet licensed the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, this ODBC data source won’t work with your application, even if the Test button succeeds.

Connection attributes

Setting on Linux and UNIX

Your Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source in odbc.ini must contain these attributes:

  • ClassPath

  • DriverClass

  • URL

For example:

[ODBC_JDBC_SAMPLE]
Driver          = Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway
ClassPath       = /tmp/infor-compass-jdbc.jar
DriverClass     = com.infor.idl.jdbc
URL     		= jdbc:infordatalake://my_tenant

These optional attributes may be set in odbc.ini.

  • Async_Cancel

  • BIGINT2CHAR

  • CanDescribeParam

  • Clean_Metadata

  • DISABLEMORERESULTS

  • Description

  • Password

  • ReuseCL

  • Single_Statement

  • Strip_Escape

  • Strip_Quote

  • User

  • With_Schema

  • XAClass

  • XA_Connection_String

  • XA_Enlist

  • XIDClass

  • wchardefaultc

For more information about these attributes, refer to the following table and the table in the next topic.

Name Value

CanDescribeParam

When CanDescribeParam is turned on, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway provides support for describing parameters if the target JDBC driver supports PreparedStatement.getParameterMetaData

By default, CanDescribeParam is turned off.

XA_Enlist

When XA_Enlist is turned on, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway uses the XA interface to access the JDBC driver. This makes the XA connection available for use by the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway and any work done by the gateway is under the control of the Transaction Manager. (Your ODBC application also needs to turn off the ODBC auto-commit mode by using SQLSetConnectAttr with the SQL_ATTR_AUTOCOMMIT attribute.)

If you want to use the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in the context of a distributed XA transaction, turn on the XA_Enlist option. Otherwise, leave the option set to its default value, which is turned off.

XA_Connection_String

The DB field value in the xa_open string. For example, you specify a database named "payroll" with the following xa_open string clause:

DB=payroll

you therefore also need to specify "payroll" as the value for the XA_Connection_String setting:

XA_Connection_String=payroll

XAClass

The class the JDBC driver implements the XADataSource interface with.

Examples For the Oracle JDBC driver, use:

XAClass = oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource

For the Microsoft SQL Server JDBC driver, use:

XAClass = com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerXADataSource

XIDClass

The method the JDBC driver provides to create XA transaction ids (Xid). The Transaction Manager uses Xids to coordinate the branches of a distributed transaction.

Examples For the Oracle JDBC driver, use:

XIDClass = oracle.jdbc.xa.OracleXid

For the SQL Server JDBC driver, use:

XIDClass = com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.XidImpl

Setting on Windows

The Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source configuration dialog box, accessible when you create or edit an Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway data source in ODBC Data Source Administrator contains these fields:

Name Value

DSN

The name of the data source. You’ll need to specify this in your application. For example, your application may prompt you to choose this from a list of DSNs.

Description

Some applications display this to help users identify a particular data source.

Database

The name of the ODBC-JDBC Gateway database to connect to.

User Name

The name of a database user to pass to the JDBC driver, if required.

The attribute value is passed to the JDBC driver as part of a Properties object in the connect call.

The equivalent Java code is:

Connection con;
Properties prop;

if (uid != null) {
    prop.put("user", uid);
}

con = DriverManager.getConnection(url, p);

This value can be overridden at the ODBC level by passing either a non-NULL user name in the call to SQLConnect or a UID=value attribute in the connection string passed to SQLDriverConnect.

It can also be supplied in the JDBC URL supplied to the JDBC driver, but the syntax of this is JDBC driver dependent.

Password

The database password to pass to the JDBC driver, if required.

The attribute value is passed to the JDBC driver as part of a Properties object in the connect call.

The equivalent Java code is:

Connection con;
Properties prop;

if (pwd != null) {
    prop.put("password", pwd);
}

con = DriverManager.getConnection (url, p);

This value can be overriden at the ODBC level by passing either a non-NULL user name in the call to SQLConnect or a PWD=value attribute in the connection string passed to SQLDriverConnect.

It can also be supplied in the JDBC URL supplied to the JDBC driver, but the syntax of this is JDBC driver dependent.

Driver Class

The class name of the target JDBC driver. For example, to connect to the Data Lake JDBC driver, you’d set Driver Class to

com.infor.idl.jdbc

The equivalent Java code is:

Class.forName(driverClass);

Class Path

A list of the .jar files required to enable Java to load the JDBC driver class. Separate multiple .jar files with a ; on Windows and : on Linux and UNIX.

Note that the order in which the .jar files are specified can be significant.

URL

The JDBC URL required to connect to the target database

The JDBC URL string is passed as the first argument to:

Connection con;
con = DriverManager.getConnection(url, p);

For information about the JDBC URL syntax, refer to the JDBC driver documentation.

Here’s an example for the Data Lake JDBC driver:

jdbc:infordatalake://my_tenant

Strip Quote

Some JDBC drivers can’t accept double quotes around column and table names, and in some cases the quotes will result in an error, as they may invoke unwanted case-sensitive behaviour.

As an example, when Strip Quote is turned on, the following SQL:

SELECT "A" FROM "T"

will, when sent to the JDBC driver, be transformed to:

SELECT A FROM T

By default, Strip Quote is turned off.

Single Statement

Some JDBC drivers are only capable of using a single active result set, but may return a value of either zero or greater than one from DatabaseMetaData.getMaxStatements().

When turned on, Single Statement forces the ODBC driver to return a value of 1 from the SQLGetInfo call to find SQL_MAX_CONCURRENT_ACTIVITIES.

By default, Single Statement is turned off.

Modify Metadata

Some JDBC drivers only return a partial result set from calls such as DatabaseMetaData.getTypeInfo().

When turned on, Modify Metadata causes the ODBC driver to modify the values in the result set returned from metadata calls (such as SQLGetInfo) so that they conform to the expected result set specification.

By default, Modify Metadata is turned off.

Reuse CL Object

When loading a JDBC driver, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway creates a java.net.URLClassLoader and this is then used to load the JDBC driver.

When Reuse CL Object is turned on), the URLClassLoader object is retained between calls to SQLConnect and SQLDriverConnect, improving connection times and reducing system resource consumption.

Reuse CL Object should only be turned off if problems are encountered connecting to multiple different JDBC drivers.

By default, Reuse CL Object is turned on.

Strip Escape

While some JDBC drivers can accept ODBC-type escape sequences, some JDBC drivers are unable to understand them.

When Strip Escape is turned on, the ODBC driver can modify the SQL passed to the JDBC driver, removing the ODBC sequences.

For example, the following SQL when passed to the ODBC driver:

SELECT * FROM T WHERE DATE_FIELD = {d '2025-02-01'}

will be altered to:

SELECT * FROM T WHERE DATE_FIELD = '2025-02-01'

when Strip Escape is turned on.

By default, Strip Escape is turned off.

Bigint Default

The ODBC specification states that if SQL_C_DEFAULT is used in combination with SQL_BIGINT fields, the result returned will be in SQL_C_BIGINT format.

When Bigint Default is turned on, a CHAR string is returned under these conditions, as some applications (Microsoft Access in particular) do not know of the SQL_BIGINT data type and therefore expect the data to be returned as a string.

By default, Bigint Default is turned off.

Async Cancel

By default, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway does not call PreparedStatement.Cancel() and ResultSet.Cancel() when the ODBC function SQLCancel is called. Several JDBC Drivers will fail if this is done in separate threads, which the ODBC specification allows.

When Async Cancel is turned on, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway does call the .Cancel() methods.

By default, Async Cancel is turned off.

WCHAR Default

The ODBC specification allows applications to request the format in which data is returned, and for each SQL data type there is a default type. The specification says that for a wide character field, the default return type is a SQL_WCHAR, a Unicode data type.

By default, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway map a SQL_WCHAR column when requested as a SQL_DEFAULT to a SQL_WCHAR, in accordance with the ODBC specification.

However, for tables with one or more WCHAR fields that are part of the primary key of that table, Microsoft Access expects that conversion to result in SQL_CHAR data. The symptom for this is that the table opens, but displays #deleted in all the fields.

When WCHAR Default is turned on, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway uses the SQL_CHAR conversion for SQL_DEFAULT requests on a SQL_WCHAR type. This is the conversion that Access expects.

This option is a workaround for Access. Enabling WCHAR Default causes the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway to behave in an non-standard way and may cause problems with other applications. If this is the case, create a separate ODBC data source for use with Access and only turn on WCHAR Default in that data source.

By default, WCHAR Default is turned off.

Disable MoreResults

By default, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway maps a SQLMoreResults call to a statement.getMoreResults call. However, some JDBC drivers do not properly implement getMoreResults. Turning on Disable MoreResults allows the JDBC driver to always return SQL_NO_DATA from a SQLMoreResults call.

When turned on, the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway does not call getMoreResults in the JDBC driver.

By default, Disable MoreResults is turned off.

DSN-less connections

Some applications allow you to make an ODBC connection without configuring a data source. To do this, you supply a connection string that contains the ODBC driver name and other driver-specific attribute-value pairs.

Here’s an example Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway connection string:

DRIVER={Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway};DRIVERCLASS=com.infor.idl.jdbc;CLASSPATH=/tmp/infor-compass-jdbc.jar;URL=jdbc:infordatalake://my_tenant

For a list of the other attributes you can set in the connection string, refer to the earlier topics in this section.

Logging

If you report an issue to us, we may ask you to turn on ODBC Driver Manager or Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway logging, to help us diagnose the cause of the issue.

To turn on logging, refer to the following sections.

If your application is a service (for example, Oracle or SQL Server), you may need to restart the service before enabling logging takes effect. To do this on Linux or UNIX, use service, systemctl, or a vendor-supplied script. To do this on Windows, use the Windows Services app.

ODBC Driver Manager logging on Linux or UNIX

For the unixODBC Driver Manager, add the following attributes to the [ODBC] section (create one if none exists) in odbcinst.ini.

Trace = Yes
TraceFile = /path/filename

For example:

[ODBC]
Trace = Yes
TraceFile = /tmp/sql.log

Ensure that the user who’s running the application to log has write permission to TraceFile (and to the directory containing it), otherwise no logging information will be produced.

Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway logging on Linux and UNIX

Driver manager trace files show all the ODBC calls an application makes, including their arguments and return values. Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway logging is specific to the Easysoft driver and is of most use when making a support call.

To turn on Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway logging, edit your ODBC data source in odbc.ini. For example:

[ODBC_JDBC_SAMPLE]
.
.
Logging = Yes
LogFile = /tmp/easysoft-odbc-driver.log

The value shown in the example specifies a log file named /tmp/easysoft-odbc-driver.log. Ensure that the user who’s running the application to log has write permission to the log file (and to the directory containing it), otherwise no logging information will be produced.

ODBC Driver Manager logging on Windows

  1. In the Windows taskbar search box, enter “Run”.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • If your application is 64-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      odbcad32.exe

      -Or-

    • If your application is 32-bit, in the Run dialog box, enter:

      %windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe
      If your not sure whether your application is 32-bit or 64-bit, start your application, then in Windows Task Manager check whether your application’s process name contains (32-bit). For example, the process name for the 32-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel (32-bit); the process name for the 64-bit version of Excel is Microsoft Excel. On older versions of Windows, 32-bit applications contain *32 in the process name rather than (32-bit).
      For applications such as Oracle or SQL Server that run as a service, check the *Background processes* list rather than the Apps list in Task Manager.
      If you’re running a programming language from within a Windows command-line shell (for example, Command or PowerShell), in your shell, run the .exe file for the programming language. For example, run perl, php, python, or node. In Task Manager, expand the process list for Windows Command Processor or Windows PowerShell, as appropriate, and check whether the process for your programming language contains (32-bit).

  3. Choose the Tracing tab.

  4. Select Machine-Wide tracing for all identities.

  5. Enter a log file name and path in the space provided. For example:

    C:\Windows\Temp\SQL.log

  6. Choose Start Tracing Now.

With SQL Server, you may get two Driver Manager log files, we need both. The first log file is in the folder that you specify in ODBC Data Source Administrator. The second file’s location is defined by SQL Server. Two possible locations are the top-level folder (for example, C:\SQL.log) or the SQL Server temporary folder (for example, C:\Users\MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS\AppData\Local\Temp\SQL.log). If the Driver Manager log file isn’t in these folders, search for it on the drive where SQL Server is installed.

Finding out what product version you have on Windows

If you have an issue with the Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway, we may ask you to tell us what your product version is. To find this out:

  1. In the Windows taskbar, enter “Add or remove programs” in the Windows search box.

  2. Select Easysoft ODBC-JDBC Gateway in the list.

    The product version displays below.