Install the SQL Server database driver for Cognos Transformer

Install the Microsoft SQL Server database driver on the computer where you will host IBM Cognos Business Intelligence.

Attention Windows users: On Windows 2012, Cognos supports OLE DB type to connect SQL Server database. There is no need to install the database client for SQL Server, because Windows has the necessary drivers for the OLE DB connection already built in. When using the default database instance for SQL Server, leave the metrics.db.local.name property blank in the cognos-setup.properties file, so it looks like the following example:

metrics.db.local.name=

Follow these steps to install the SQL Server database driver for Cognos Transformer on AIX and Linux. Cognos supports ODBC type to connect SQL Server database. The only ODBC driver supported by Cognos is "Process DataDirect Connect for ODBC". The driver is not free. To avoid the cost for the licensed driver, consider deploying the Cognos Transformer on Windows. For details, refer to the technote about how to install IBM Cognos Transformer on a separate Windows machine.

1. Install the 32-bit DataDirect driver on the server where you will deploy Cognos Transformer. The detailed installation instructions are in Installation on UNIX and Linux on the DataDirect Web site.

2. Create a file named ..odbc.ini at a directory like /root/.odbc.ini. We can copy a template .odbc.ini from where the DataDirect ODBC driver is installed.

3. Edit the odbc.ini configuring the SQL Server data source :

   • In the [ODBC Data Sources] section, define a data source name and driver for the Metrics database, such as metricsds.

   • In the [ODBC] section, specify the ODBC root directory, and whether Driver Manager tracing is enabled.

   • Create a section [metricsds] like the following sample and define the details in this section.

   Here is an example of the .odbc.ini configuration with data source for metricsds:

   [ODBC Data Sources] 
   metricsds=DataDirect 7.1 SQL Server Wire Protocol 
   [ODBC] 
   IANAAppCodePage=4
   InstallDir=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect_for_ODBC_71
   Trace=0
   TraceFile=odbctrace.out
   TraceDll=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect_for_ODBC_71/lib/ivtrc27.so 
   
   [metricsds] 
   Driver=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect_for_ODBC_71/lib/ivsqls27.so
   Description=DataDirect 7.1 SQL Server Wire Protocol Database=metrics
   HostName=lwptsthink68.cn.ibm.com
   PortNumber=1511

   Where:

   • Database indicates the name of the Metrics database. The name should be “Metrics”, which is decided by Connection database install wizard.

   • HostName is the hostname of sqlserver machine.

   • PortNumber is the port of the database instance where Metrics is created.

4. To verify that DataDirect and the data source are configured correctly:

   1. Set the appropriate library path environment variable to specify the location of the ODBC libraries for the operating system:

      • AIX: LIBPATH

      • Linux: LD_LIBRARY_PATH

      For example, on Linux:

      export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect_for_ODBC_71/lib/

   2. Set the ODBCINI environment :
      export ODBCINI=/root/.odbc.ini

   3. Go to the demo subdirectory in the DataDirect install directory, and run the command demoobc:

      cd /opt/Progress/DataDirect/Connect_for_ODBC_71/samples/demo
      ./demoodbc -uid metricsuser -pwd **** metricsds 

   4. Set the password as the Metrics database password of your SQL Server. If we receive the following message, it means the ODBC driver works fine and can connect to the Metrics database (the "EMP" error does not matter):

      ./demoodbc DataDirect Technologies, Inc. ODBC Sample Application.
      ./demoodbc: will connect to data source 'metricsds' as user 'metricsuser/password1'.
      ......SQLExecute has Failed. RC=-1
      SQLSTATE = S0002
      NATIVE ERROR = 208
      MSG = [DataDirect][ODBC SQL Server Wire Protocol driver][Microsoft SQL Server]Invalid object name 'EMP'. 

Parent topic:
Install the database client for Cognos Transformer