odbc.ini - Man Page

Many ODBC drivers come with .ini file templates. Using odbcinst to install these templates is recommended.

odbc.ini follows the pesudo-standard ini file syntax convention of one or more [section headings], each followed by zero or more key = value attributes.

[ODBC Data Sources] section

This mandatory section lists each data source name (DSN) as a key. The associated values serve as comments. Each entry must be matched by an ini file [section] describing the data source.

Data Source Name [section]

Each data source is identified by a [section header], which is the DSN name used by applications. Each DSN definition section may contain values for the keys:

· Driver (REQUIRED)

The name of the ODBC driver to use for the DSN. The name must exactly match the [section name] of the driver definition stored in odbcinst.ini (and listed by odbcinst -q -d).

· Description

Human-readable data source description.

· Database

Database name or identifier. The meaning is driver-specific and can specify a file path, Unix socket path, an identifier relative to a server name, etc.

· Servername

Server name. The meaning is driver-specific but generally specifies a DNS name, IP network address or driver-specific discovery identifier.

For a full list of supported parameters, refer to the HTML-formatted "Administrator Manual" shipped with unixODBC, the documentation for your ODBC driver and any data-source templates supplied by your driver.