Introduction
Typical Utilization
Installation
Post Installation & Pre Configuration Check List
OpenLink ODBC Agent Configuration
Making a Test Connection
OpenLink ODBC Agent Integration into Pre OpenLink v1.5.5
& v3.0 installations
Introduction:
Typical Utilization:
A typical and very popular use of the OpenLink ODBC Agent is the exposure of tradition desktop database engines within your organization to your new Intranet or Internet based infrastructures, using a client-server distributed computing model. This implies that you can have multiple concurrent clients within your Intranet or remote Internet clients connecting to your Microsoft Access, DBASE, Fox PRO, Paradox database engines without any compromises in security and with astonishing performance.
Installation:
After downloading the OpenLink Data Access Driver Suite for your chosen desktop operating system please perform the following steps:-
- Move into your temporary installation directory
- Extract the contents of the OpenLink ZIP archive into the
directory in step 1
- Double click on the program "setup.exe"
- Follow the on-screen instructions
Post Installation & Pre Configuration Check List:
- Verify that the ODBC Driver Manager exists on your system
by opening up your desktop's control panel group
- Verify the existence of an ODBC Driver for the desktop
database engine that you will be connecting with (the example below shows the ODBC Driver
for Microsoft Access from Microsoft Corporation and other installed ODBC Drivers)
- Verify the existence of an ODBC System Data Source Name
(DSN) for the database engine that you will be exposing via the OpenLink ODBC Agent, this
ODBC DSN must be associated with the appropriate ODBC Driver for your desktop database
- Verify the existence of an OpenLink ODBC Driver
installation on your PC
Configuring An OpenLink ODBC Agent Based ODBC Data Source Name (DSN)
- Open up the ODBC Administrator within your desktop control
panel, and then Click on the "Add" button to indicate that you want to add a new
ODBC DSN to the current list of installed ODBC DSNs
- Click on the appropriate ODBC Driver that you will be
associating this new ODBC DSN with, in this case the "OpenLink For Win32" or
"OpenLink Generic 32 Bit" Driver (note: both of these are the same ODBC Driver
identified differently for compatability reasons)
- Choose an a Name for your OpenLink ODBC DSN and then type
it into the "Name" field, the example below presumes the DSN is to be called
"ODBC Agent"
- Choose an OpenLink "Provider Type" of
"ODBC" from the "Provider Type" listbox
- Type the name of the non OpenLink ODBC DSN that you would
like to associate this OpenLink ODBC DSN with into the "Path" field. The example
below presumes the existence of a non OpenLink ODBC DSN named "LocalAccess" that
is bound to the Microsoft ODBC Driver for MS Access
- Enter the name of the machine hosting the OpenLink ODBC
agent, the example below presumes that the machine network alias for your desktop computer
is "MyPC" (note: you can also use the machines actual IP address or even use the
"localhost" account if you are connecting to a local as opposed to remote non
OpenLink ODBC DSN)
- If a username is required when connecting to your
desktop database please enter the username value into the "User ID" field. The
example below presumes a database user login of "John"
- Optimize record retrieval throughput by setting the
"Row Buffer Size" value to a number representing how many records you would like
your OpenLink ODBC Driver to retrieve during a single iteration of an ODBC Fetch call and
Network hop (when connecting to remote ODBC DSNs), the example above presumes 30 records
- Click on the "OK" button to complete the
creation of your new OpenLink ODBC DSN
Making A Test Connection To Your OpenLink ODBC Agent Based ODBC DSN
To verify that your installation and configuration is ready for use, please follow the steps below in order to make a test connection to the OpenLink ODBC DSN that you have just created:-
- Start the OpenLink Request Broker in debug mode, this can
be done from a DOS shell by executing the command : oplrqb -dv or from your Services Panel
(note you must change the startup mode to manual to enable the OpenLink Request Broker run
in Debug Mode)
- Locate the program "VBDemo" or "C++
Demo" situated within the "OpenLink Data Access Drivers" group on your
desktop (Windows start menu item)
- Attempt to make a connection to the OpenLink ODBC DSN
- If step 3 is successful and you see data exchanged between
your ODBC Client and your OpenLink ODBC DSN, exit the ODBC application, and the shutdown
and restart the Broker without the Debug Mode options using the command: oplrqb -v. If
step 3 is unsuccessful repeat step 3 and then capture the Request Broker output and
proceed to instigating contact with OpenLink Technical support via the OpenLink Support
Page
- Establish connection between your own ODBC Applications
and the OpenLink ODBC DSN created in step 3
- Shutdown the Request Broker using the command: oplshut -f
Adding An OpenLink ODBC Agent To A Pre OpenLink v1.5.5 or v3.0 System
- Place the ODBC Agent executable in the
openlink/bin sub-directory
- Edit the OpenLink "Session
Rules" Book (the file oplrqb.ini) using a text editor
- Insert a new OpenLink Session Mapping rule
to the top of the "[Mapping Rules]" section of the Rule Book in the manner
depicted below:
odbc:*:*:*:*:*:* = accept odbc_agent
- Then create a new OpenLink Agent section
as follows:
[odbc_agent]
Program = odbc_sv
Note: Program equals must be set to the exact file name. (For NT this would be odbc_sv.exe)
- Save the file
- Shutdown and restart your OpenLink Request Broker.
