OpenLink ODBC Driver for DB2 (Lite Edition) Installation and Configuration
Review Preinstallation Documentation: Pre-Installation Configuration for DB2 Single-Tier Drivers (Windows)
Installation
The
Click the Open link that appears in your Downloads dialog.
The installer will display a Welcome message.
Click "Next."
The next screen will display the License Agreement for the
Your driver needs a license file to operate. Click the Browse button to locate a commercial or evaluation license that you have previously downloaded onto your local hard drive. Alternatively, click the Try & Buy button to obtain a commercial or evaluation license.
You can check the "I don't want to install a license file right now" check box.
This option will permit you to install the product.
However, you will not be able to use the product until you obtain a commercial or evaluation license key.
Click Next.
Choose among the Typical, Complete, or Custom installation types.
Click Next.
Click the Install button.
Installation is complete.
Click the Finish button.
You may be prompted to restart your computer, if you have a pre-existing OpenLink License Manager running on your computer.
Configuration
Open the ODBC Data Sources Administrator that appears in the Administrative Tools section of your Control Panel.
Click the System DSN tab.
Click the Add button.
Then, select the OpenLink DB2 Lite Driver from the list of available drivers.
Select the Unicode version of the driver if and only if you are working with multi-byte character sets, as unnecessary translations can significantly affect ODBC performance.
Click Finish.
The first dialog prompts for a Data Source Name and optional description.
Click Next.
The second dialog prompts for information that identifies the DB2 DBMS.
It also provides a checkbox that allows you to check your basic connection parameters before setting advanced and optional settings.
- Database alias - The DB2 Connect alias that identifies the remote DB2 DBMS
- Max. long data length - Max Long Data Length controls the maximum length of SQL_ LONGVARCHAR and SQL_ LONGVARBINARY data that drivers can return. It works in conjunction with the "Deferred fetching of long data" parameter. When off, this setting limits the amount of memory which may be allocated for a dataset cell to hold the retrieved value. The value is truncated to this length. The default limit is 60000 bytes.
- Login ID - A DB2 username
- Password - A valid DB2 database
Click Next.
The third dialog enables you to set optional, ODBC connection parameters.
- Read Only connection - Specifies whether the connection is "Read-only." Make sure the checkbox is unchecked to request a "Read/Write" connection.
- Defer fetching of long data - Defers fetching of LONG (BINARY, BLOB etc.) data unless explicitly requested in a query. This provides significant performance increases when fields in query do not include LONG data fields.
- Disable interactive login - Suppresses the ODBC "Username" and "Password" login dialog boxes when interacting with your ODBC DSN from within an ODBC compliant application.
- Row Buffer Size - This attribute specifies the number of records to be transported over the network in a single network hop. Values can range from 1 to 99.
- Max Rows Override - Allows you to define a limit on the maximum number of rows to be returned from a query. The default value of 0 means no limit.
- Initial SQL - Lets you specify a file containing SQL statements that will be run automatically against the database upon connection.
- Dynamic Cursor Sensitivity - Enables or disables the row version cache used with dynamic cursors. When dynamic cursor sensitivity is set high, the Cursor Library calculates checksums for each row in the current rowset and compares these with the checksums (if any) already stored in the row version cache for the same rows when fetched previously. If the checksums differ for a row, the row has been updated since it was last fetched and the row status flag is set to SQL_ROW_UPDATED. The row version cache is then updated with the latest checksums for the rowset. From the user's point of view, the only visible difference between the two sensitivity settings is that a row status flag can never be set to SQL_ROW_UPDATED when the cursor sensitivity is low. (The row status is instead displayed as SQL_ROW_SUCCESS.) In all other respects, performance aside, the two settings are the same. Deleted rows don't appear in the rowset. Updates to the row since the row was last fetched are reflected in the row data, and inserted rows appear in the rowset, if their keys fall within the span of the rowset. If your application does not need to detect the row status SQL_ROW_UPDATED, you should leave the 'High Cursor Sensitivity' checkbox unchecked, as performance is improved. The calculation and comparison of checksums for each row fetched carries an overhead. If this option is enabled, the table oplrvc must have been created beforehand using the appropriate script for the target database.
- Enable logging to the log file - Check the checkbox and use the associated textbox to provide the full path to a file in which to log diagnostic information.
Click Next to continue.
The fourth dialog enables you to set additional parameters to enhance compatibility with applications.
- Enable Microsoft Jet engine options - Check this checkbox if you intend to use this driver with Microsoft Access.
- Disable AutoCommit - Changes the default commit behaviour of the OpenLink driver. The default mode is AutoCommit (box unchecked).
- Disable rowset size limit - Disables a limitation enforced by the cursor library. This limitation is enforced by default. It prevents the driver from claiming all available memory in the event that a resultset generated from an erroneous query is very large. The limit is normally never reached.
- Multiple Active Statements Emulation - Enables use of Multiple Active statements in an ODBC application even if the underlying database does not allow this, as it is emulated in the driver.
- SQL_DBMS Name - Manually overrides the SQLGetInfo(SQL_DBMS_NAME) response returned by the driver. This is required for products like Microsoft InfoPath for which the return the value should be "SQL Server".
Click Next to continue.
The final dialog enables you to text your Data Source.
Proceed to Commercial Licensing Documentation:
Should you decide to purchase a commercial license at the end of your evaluation period, be sure to consult our documentation which explains the placement and uptake of commercial license files and the use of our OpenLink License Manager technology: License Technology & Application
