Announcement: UDA Release 7.0 Lite Edition ODBC Driver for Oracle

Today, we've updated the Lite Edition ODBC Driver for Oracle.

Installation and configuration takes only minutes, by following the documentation which remains available anytime, specifically for this driver on Windows.

Release 7.0 licenses are also available for immediate purchase.

Client Platform Support

Release 7.0 installers are available for immediate download for Windows. Builds for Mac, Linux, and other Unix-like OS will be available soon; please contact us if you have urgent need.

Release 7.0 supports all 32-bit and 64-bit ODBC client tools and applications, both GUI and command-line, on —

Windows and Windows Server
on x86 and x86_64
  • Windows 8.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows 7.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Vista (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows XP (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 R2 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 (x86, x86_64)

DBMS Version Support

The Release 7.0 Lite Edition ODBC Driver supports virtually every version of Oracle in current use, including —

  • Oracle 12c Release 1 (12.1.x)

  • Oracle 11g Release 2 (11.2.x)

  • Oracle 11g Release 1 (11.1.x)

  • Oracle 10g Release 2 (10.2.x)

  • Oracle 10g Release 1 (10.1.x)

  • Oracle 9i Release 2 (9.2.x)

Changes since Release 6.x

Additions

  • Support for Oracle 12c

  • Support for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012

Fixes

  • Enhanced support for Oracle 11g

# PermaLink Comments [0]
06/23/2015 16:14 GMT-0500 Modified: 06/23/2015 16:56 GMT-0500
Announcement: UDA Release 7.0 Express Edition ODBC Driver for Oracle

Today, we've updated the Express Edition ODBC Driver for Oracle.

Installation and configuration takes only minutes, by following the documentation which remains available anytime, specifically for this driver on OS X and Windows.

Release 7.0 licenses are also available for immediate purchase.

Client Platform Support

Release 7.0 installers are available for immediate download for Mac and Windows. (Express Edition is not typically produced for Linux and other Unix-like OS will be available soon; please contact us if you have specific need.)

Release 7.0 supports all 32-bit and 64-bit ODBC client tools and applications, both GUI and command-line, on —

OS X and OS X Server
on x86 and x86_64
Windows and Windows Server
on x86 and x86_64
  • Yosemite (10.10.x) (x86_64)

  • Mavericks (10.9.x) (x86_64)

  • Mountain Lion (10.8.x) (x86_64)

  • Lion (10.7.x) (x86_64)

  • Windows 8.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows 7.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Vista (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows XP (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 R2 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 (x86, x86_64)

DBMS Version Support

The Release 7.0 Express Edition ODBC Driver supports virtually every version of Oracle in current use, including —

  • Oracle 12c Release 1 (12.1.x)

  • Oracle 11g Release 2 (11.2.x)

  • Oracle 11g Release 1 (11.1.x)

  • Oracle 10g Release 2 (10.2.x)

  • Oracle 10g Release 1 (10.1.x)

  • Oracle 9i Release 2 (9.2.x)

Changes since Release 6.x

Additions

  • Support for Oracle 12c

  • Support for OS X Yosemite, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2012

Fixes

  • Enhanced support for Oracle 11g

  • Enhanced support for OS X Mavericks

# PermaLink Comments [0]
06/23/2015 16:14 GMT-0500 Modified: 06/26/2015 10:41 GMT-0500
Announcement: UDA Release 7.0 Lite Edition ODBC Driver for Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server

In coming months, we'll be gradually shipping Release 7.0 of all our UDA drivers. This post will be the first of many, describing some of the fixes, changes, and improvements in each driver as they are made available.

Today, we have the Lite Edition ODBC Drivers for Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server.

Installation and configuration takes only minutes, by following the documentation which remains available anytime, specifically for this driver on OS X and Windows.

Release 7.0 licenses are also available for immediate purchase.

Client Platform Support

Release 7.0 installers are available for immediate download for Mac and Windows. Builds for Linux and other Unix-like OS will be available soon; please contact us if you have urgent need.

Release 7.0 supports all 32-bit and 64-bit ODBC client tools and applications, both GUI and command-line, on —

OS X and OS X Server
on x86 and x86_64
Windows and Windows Server
on x86 and x86_64
  • Yosemite (10.10.x) (x86_64)

  • Mavericks (10.9.x) (x86_64)

  • Mountain Lion (10.8.x) (x86_64)

  • Lion (10.7.x) (x86_64)

  • Windows 8.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows 7.x (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Vista (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows XP (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2012 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 R2 (x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2008 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 R2 (x86, x86_64)

  • Windows Server 2003 (x86, x86_64)

DBMS Version Support

The Release 7.0 Lite Edition ODBC Driver supports virtually every version of Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server in current use, including —

  • Microsoft SQL Server 6.5

  • Microsoft SQL Server 7.0

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2000

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2005

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2008

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2012

  • Microsoft SQL Server 2014

  • Microsoft SQL Azure

  • Sybase SQL Server 4.x

  • Sybase SQL Server 10.x

  • Sybase SQL Server 11.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 11.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 12.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) 15.x

  • Sybase SQL Anywhere 6.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) 7.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) 8.x

  • Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere (ASA) 9.x

  • Sybase SQL Anywhere 10.x

  • Sybase SQL Anywhere 11.x

Changes since Release 6.x

Additions

  • added support for SPARSE columns in SQLColumns() call

    • added DSN options SHOWSPARSECOLS / ShowSparseCols and Multi-Tier connect option -X )

    • details, based on test table:

           
      CREATE TABLE tbl_sparse_test 
        ( col1  INT SPARSE
        , col2  INT
        , col3  XML COLUMN_SET FOR ALL_SPARSE_COLUMNS 
        )
      
           
          
      • wildcard query will return only col2 and col3; will not include SPARSE columns. This is standard SQL Server behavior, and it cannot be changed.

               
        SELECT * 
          FROM tbl_sparse_test
          ;
        
               
              

        To include SPARSE columns in results, they must be explicitly SELECTed

               
        SELECT col1, col2, col3 
          FROM tbl_sparse_test
          ;
        
               
              
      • By default, calls to SQLColumns() don't return Sparse Columns. To receive full columns list:

        • via our Lite Edition ODBC driver —

          1. open connection with SHOWSPARSECOLS in DSN connection string, e.g., "DSN=TdsSQL;UID=sa;PWD=sa;SHOWSPARSECOLS=Y;"

          2. SQLColumns (hstmt, NULL, 0, NULL, 0, L"tbl_sparse_test", SQL_NTS, NULL, 0 );

        • via the Microsoft ODBC driver —

          1. SQLSetStmtAttr (hstmt, SQL_SOPT_SS_NAME_SCOPE, (SQLPOINTER)SQL_SS_NAME_SCOPE_EXTENDED, SQL_IS_SMALLINT);

          2. SQLColumns (hstmt, L"tempdb", SQL_NTS, L"dbo", SQL_NTS, L"tbl_sparse_test", SQL_NTS, NULL, 0 );

  • added support for new SQL Server datatypes such as datetime2

  • added support for NBCROW token

  • added support for Sybase 15

Fixes

  • fixed issue with SQL Server BIT datatype

  • fixed memory overwrite error, when DB procedure is called with SQL_PARAM_OUTPUT parameter of CHAR/VARCHAR/LONGVARCHAR

  • fixed issue with VARBINARY datatype and DB procedures

  • fixed issue with converting TIMESTAMP to CHAR/WCHAR

  • fixed datatype info in SQLGetTypeInfo -- new Sybase and MSSQL datatypes were added

  • fixed database catalog and query metadata info for Sybase 15's UNSIGNED INT, UNSIGNED SMALLINT, BIGINT, SYSNAME, LONGSYSNAME

# PermaLink Comments [0]
06/16/2015 17:43 GMT-0500 Modified: 06/23/2015 16:18 GMT-0500
Why Do I Need To Pay For ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, OLE-DB Drivers? (revisited)

Situation Analysis

It's the year 2015, and the fundamental issues associated with the utility of data access drivers remain confusing. Basically, we remain uncertain about the value-to-compensation alignment of ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), and ADO.NET drivers/providers.

ODBC JDBC
Image Image
ADO.NET
Image

Why do we pay for anything?

After allowing for consumer irrationality [1], the basis of any payment is fundamentally tied to the monetization of opportunity costs. Essentially, we pay for one thing to alleviate the (usually higher) costs of something else.

The rest of this post focuses on highlighting the real pains associated with the $0.00 value misconception associated with Data Access Drivers: ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET, OLE-DB, etc.

Real Costs of Data Access Drivers

In the most basic sense, there are some fundamental aspects of data access that are complex to implement and rarely implemented (if at all) by free drivers. The list includes:

  • Escape Syntaxes for Dates and Functions -- abstraction for dates and function signatures at the application level (i.e., the same abstraction works across all compliant databases)
  • Metadata Calls which enable smarter ODBC compliant applications -- this feature is typically missing in Drivers and abused by the Clients (consumers); i.e., clients are made DBMS specific by testing for specific DBMS names, rather than utilizing feature and functionality metadata returned by drivers
  • Scrollable Cursors -- this is how you deal with change sensitivity and paging through large datasets; some drivers actually fake support and get away with it due to shortage of applications to test proper cursor types (Static, Forward-Only, Key-Set, Dynamic, and Mixed models).

Beyond actual driver sophistication, in regards to key feature implementations, let's up the ante by veering into the area of data security. At the most basic level, It's extremely important to understand that all data access drivers provide read-write access to your databases; thus, it's imperative that data access drivers address the following:

  • Read-Only or Read-Write Access modalities scoped to specific
    • users
    • user groups
    • target databases
    • data access standards (e.g., ODBC, JDBC, ADO.NET)
    • client applications
    • client host operating systems
    • client host IP addresses
  • Any combination of the above as part of a configurable collection of data access rules (or policies).

Once you're done with security, you then have the thorny issue of data access and data flow management. In a nutshell, your driver needs to be able to handle:

  • Protection against Cartesian-product-based network flooding (e.g., user queries an enormous table without knowing or understanding back-end implications)
  • Enabling or Disabling of key DBMS engine data access optimization features (e.g. SQL RDBMS-specific extensions exposed via Environment Variables or SQL-command-based settings)
  • Conditional Connection Pooling across various dimensions such as Users, User Groups, Applications, Host Operating Systems, IP Addresses
  • Encryption of Data in Transit

Once you've dealt with Security and Data Flow, you then have to address the enforcement of these settings across a myriad of ODBC compliant host, which is where Zeroconfig and centralized data access administration comes into play i.e., configure once (locally) and enforce globally.

OpenLink Universal Data Access (UDA) Drivers

When OpenLink Software entered the ODBC Driver Market segment (circa 1992), the issues above were the fundamental basis of our Multi-Tier Drivers. Although the marketplace highlighted our drivers for high performance, stability, and specification adherence -- to all of which we remain committed -- our fundamental engineering focus has always been skewed towards configurable data security, platform independence, and scalability.

Every item of concern outlined in the section above is addressed by security features built into our Multi-Tier Drivers [2][3][4]. These features all leverage the fact that our multi-tier drivers include a sophisticated DB session rules book that enables construction and enforcement of user attribute (user name, application, client operating system, IP address, target database etc.) based rules which are applied to all database sessions (single or pooled).

Image

Today, in the year 2015, the security issues that pervade Data Access, whether via Native SQL RDBMS Drivers, or ODBC, JDBC, and ADO.NET Drivers/Providers, have only increased, courtesy of ubiquitous computing -- facilitated by the Internet & Web, across desktop and mobile device dimensions. Paradoxically, there remains a fundamental illusion that all Data Access Drivers are made the same; i.e., they simply provide you with the ability to connect to SQL RDBMS back-ends, for the industry standard price of $0.00, without consequence -- thereby skewing the very nature of SQL RDBMS data access and its security and privacy implications.

I hope that this post brings some clarity to a very serious security and general configuration management issues associated with Data Access Drivers. Free ODBC Drivers offer nothing; that's why they cost $0.00. When dealing with real issues associated with Open Data Access, you must have a handle on the inevitable issues of data security and privacy.

Links

  1. The Irrational Consumer: Why Economics Is Dead Wrong About How We Make Choices
  2. OpenLink Multi-Tier ODBC Drivers
  3. OpenLink Multi-Tier JDBC Drivers
  4. OpenLink Multi-Tier ADO.NET Providers

Related

# PermaLink Comments [0]
06/11/2015 17:18 GMT-0500 Modified: 07/17/2015 14:00 GMT-0500
Life after sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver

In the beginning...

When Sun originally released Java 1.0, there were no JDBC drivers -- there wasn't even a JDBC.

Data access came in Java 2.0, as JDBC 1.0, but there were very few JDBC drivers from any source, as would be expected with any new technology -- but the ODBC ecosystem (itself then at only v2.0) was going strong.

Sun recognized that Java wouldn't have as much uptake without a functional data access solution -- so they produced and bundled the original Type 1 JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver, sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver, but from the very beginning, they warned that users "should use the JDBC-ODBC Bridge only for experimental prototyping or when you have no other driver available."

That bundled JDBC-ODBC Bridge was (and always remained) single-threaded, and though it received some other updates along the way, it only ever supported a subset of JDBC 2.0 and later. Sun (and later Oracle) recommended that users employ "a pure Java JDBC technology-enabled driver, type 3 or 4, in order to get all of the benefits of the Java programming language and the JDBC API."

Where does OpenLink Software come in?

Even in the early days of JDBC, we saw that there would not always be an available JDBC driver for a given target data source -- but the numbers of ODBC drivers were rapidly increasing, supporting every major and many minor DBMS and other data sources. We saw a need for an enterprise-grade, non-experimental Bridge solution, with full support for the JDBC API.

We delivered this first as our Type 3 Multi-Tier solution, bridging from JDBC in one environment (typically a UNIX-like OS) to ODBC in another (most often, Microsoft Windows).

Type 3 Enterprise Edition (Multi-Tier) Architecture Diagram
Type 3 Enterprise Edition (Multi-Tier) Architecture Diagram
(click to enlarge)

Soon afterward, we released our first Type 1 Single-Tier solution, first for Windows, but quickly also supporting Linux, Mac OS X, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, and other UNIX-like OS, through our own iODBC driver manager -- which was itself helping to expand the ODBC ecosystem far beyond its birthplace on Windows.

Type 1 Lite Edition (Single-Tier) Architecture Diagram
Type 1 Lite Edition (Single-Tier) Architecture Diagram
(click to enlarge)

Why is Java 8 so special?

Sun long warned that the JRE-bundled Bridge was transitional, and Oracle confirmed immediately upon acquisition that it would "be removed in JDK 8. In addition, Oracle does not support the JDBC-ODBC Bridge." Java 8 is now in full release, and indeed, the venerable sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver is no longer present, as evidenced by the scary looking error --

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:372)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(URLClassLoader.java:361)
    at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
    at java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(URLClassLoader.java:360)
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:424)
    at sun.misc.Launcher$AppClassLoader.loadClass(Launcher.java:30
    at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:357)
    at java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:259)

Any Java users or applications relying on ODBC connections and also needing the security and other improvements found in Java 8 are left high and dry... Or would be, but for OpenLink Software.

Our JDBC-to-ODBC Bridge, in both Type 1 and Type 3 forms, has been available and regularly updated since its original release for JDBC 1. Fully multi-threaded since Java Runtime Environments (JREs) could handle such, we have also kept pace with the JDBC API -- now at JDBC 4.2, in 2015's Java 8 a/k/a JDK/JVM/JRE 1.8 -- and maintained compatibility with the also-evolving ODBC API, now at 3.8.

Especially important for the modern world, our solutions support both 64-bit and 32-bit environments, including both 64-bit JVMs and ODBC drivers, and our Type 3 solutions can even bridge between these, whether you have a 64-bit JVM and need to connect to a 32-bit ODBC driver, or you have a 32-bit JVM and need to connect to a 64-bit ODBC driver.

As always, our solutions are available for immediate download, with a free two-week trial license provided alongside. We encourage pre-purchase installation, configuration, and testing, with support provided through our web-based Support Forums and even free up-and-running Support Cases. Once you've confirmed the driver works for you, entry level and special offer licenses may be purchased online or through our Sales Team; these as well as custom license configurations or partnership (IBP, ISV, VAR, OEM, etc.) arrangements are always available by direct contact.

# PermaLink Comments [0]
06/04/2015 17:12 GMT-0500
22023DT013: Mixed timezoned and timezoneless arguments in datediff
in
datediff:(BIF),
        __01 => 'second',
        __02 => (DATETIME value, tag 211),
        __03 => (DATETIME value, tag 211),
vc_render_template4(/DAV/VAD/blog2/templates/openlink/index.vspx-sql:14109),
        SELF => reference 0x7f616c235b38 to instance 0x7f6020a32698 of DB.DBA.page_2586a52d45e2079afbb5169d58681d302_templates_openlink_index_vspx,
     control => reference 0x7f616f46db38 to instance 0x7f616ce3f928 of DB.DBA.vspx_row_template,
vc_render:10,
        SELF => reference 0x7f616f46db38 to instance 0x7f616ce3f928 of DB.DBA.vspx_row_template,
__udt_method_call:(BIF),
        __01 => 250135880,
        __02 => 19,
        __03 => reference 0x7f616f46db38 to instance 0x7f616ce3f928 of DB.DBA.vspx_row_template,
vc_render_template2(/DAV/VAD/blog2/templates/openlink/index.vspx-sql:13867),
        SELF => reference 0x7f616c235b38 to instance 0x7f6020a32698 of DB.DBA.page_2586a52d45e2079afbb5169d58681d302_templates_openlink_index_vspx,
     control => reference 0x7f616dbb17e8 to instance 0x7f616d4e29c8 of DB.DBA.vspx_template,
vc_render:10,
        SELF => reference 0x7f616dbb17e8 to instance 0x7f616d4e29c8 of DB.DBA.vspx_template,
__udt_method_call:(BIF),
        __01 => 250135880,
        __02 => 19,
        __03 => reference 0x7f616dbb17e8 to instance 0x7f616d4e29c8 of DB.DBA.vspx_template,
vc_render:13,
        SELF => reference 0x7f616c7608e8 to instance 0x7f616f51c4d8 of DB.DBA.vspx_data_set,
     ct_name => 'template2',
__udt_method_call:(BIF),
        __01 => 266841896,
        __02 => 21,
        __03 => reference 0x7f616c7608e8 to instance 0x7f616f51c4d8 of DB.DBA.vspx_data_set,
        __04 => 'template2' in v:data-set "posts" (render)
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