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20.1.4.5 Configuring a Connector/ODBC DSN on Unix »
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20.1.4.4. Configuring a Connector/ODBC DSN on Mac OS X

To configure a DSN on Mac OS X you can either use the myodbc3i utility, edit the odbc.ini file within the Library/ODBC directory of the user or the should use the ODBC Administrator. If you have Mac OS X 10.2 or earlier, refer to Section 20.1.4.5, “Configuring a Connector/ODBC DSN on Unix”. Select whether you want to create a User DSN or a System DSN. If you want to add a System DSN, you may need to authenticate with the system. You must click the padlock and enter a user and password with administrator privileges.

For correct operation of ODBC Administrator, you should ensure that the /Library/ODBC/odbc.ini file used to set up ODBC connectivity and DSNs are writable by the admin group. If this file is not writable by this group then the ODBC Administrator may fail, or may appear to have worked but not generated the correct entry.

Warning

There are known issues with the OS X ODBC Administrator and Connector/ODBC that may prevent you from creating a DSN using this method. In this case you should use the command-line or edit the odbc.ini file directly. Note that existing DSNs or those that you create via the myodbc3i or myodbc-installertool can still be checked and edited using ODBC Administrator.

To create a DSN using the myodbc3i utility, you need only specify the DSN type and the DSN connection string. For example: 

shell> myodbc3i -a -s -t"DSN=mydb;DRIVER=MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver;SERVER=mysql;USER=username;PASSWORD=pass"

To use ODBC Administrator:

  1. Open the ODBC Administrator from the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.

    ODBC Administrator Main Panel Dialog

  2. On the User DSN or System DSN panel, click Add.

  3. Select the Connector/ODBC driver and click OK.

  4. You will be presented with the Data Source Name dialog. Enter The Data Source Name and an optional Description for the DSN.

    ODBC Administrator Add DSN Dialog

  5. Click Add to add a new keyword/value pair to the panel. You should configure at least four pairs to specify the server, username, password and database connection parameters. See Section 20.1.4.2, “Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters”.

  6. Click OK to add the DSN to the list of configured data source names.

A completed DSN configuration may look like this:

ODBC Administrator Sample DSN Dialog

You can configure additional ODBC options to your DSN by adding further keyword/value pairs and setting the corresponding values. See Section 20.1.4.2, “Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters”.