All about ODBC

Utilities

Use the ODBC Admin Demo applet (admndemo.exe) to connect to either a file data source (ie. direct access to the file that contains databases) or machine data source (indirect access through server process), and send SQL commands to check that the ODBC connection works

Use the ODBC Data Source Administrator (on W2K, Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Data Sources (ODBC) ) to configure ODBC.

Q&A

Does Windows come with ODBC Manager preinstalled?

Windows 2000 already includes MDAC 2.5. Windows 98 SE installs MDAC 2.1 by default. Also, Windows ME installs MDAC 2.5 by default.  To find out which Microsoft products install MDAC, use the Microsoft DLL Help Database web site and search on "msado15.dll".

What's the difference between User DSN and System DSN?

What is a DSN connection in ODBC?

It seems like a DSN is a shortcut that the user can create to connect to a data source by name, but ODBC can also be used without such shortcut.

What is ODBC Direct?

Resources