ODBC Driver for Linux/Unix/macOS

The Exasol ODBC driver for Linux/Unix is designed to run on as many distributions as possible. However, it is tested on the following systems:

Download and Install the ODBC Driver

  1. Go to the Exasol Downloads page and from Download ODBC Driver section, download the ODBC Driver according to your OS (Unix, Linux, or macOS). For example, for Linux, select EXASOL_ODBC-<version>.tar.gz.
  2. Run the following commands to extract the package in a directory:
    • For Linux/macOS: tar -xzf EXASOL_ODBC-<version>.tar.gz
    • For Solaris: gtar -xzf EXASOL_ODBC-<version>.tar.gz

For configuration information, check the readme.txt file included in the driver package.

Configure ODBC Driver and Data Sources

To configure the driver, run the config_odbc program to generate the odbc.ini file. Change into the install directory and then run config_odbc as shown below: 

cd  EXASolution_ODBC-*
        ./config_odbc

Running the config_odbc performs the following operations: 

  • Scans the system for available ODBC driver manager
  • Check for missing (3rd party) packages
  • Creates an odbc.ini config file
  • Creates a wrapper script to start applications
  • Tests the database connectivity
  • Suggests the correct DSN an application needs based on the driver manager it uses

The generated odbc.ini file contains DSN entries for all supported ODBC driver managers. To further configure the options in the odbc.ini file, see Connecting through Connection Strings.

The config_odbc program also allows non-interactive use. For details, run the following command: 

./config_odbc --help

Known Issues

Issue Reason Solution
config_odbc does not start The operating system may not have the full Perl installation.

Install a full Perl system and try again.

Fix: minimal Debian
apt-get install perl
Fix: minimal CentOS 7
yum install perl-Digest-MD5
Error "Data source name not found, and no default driver specified"
  • Wrong version of the unixODBC is used because of multiple installation instances.
  • The unixODBC driver manager is using the wrong odbc.ini file.
  • Specify the correct version of the unixODBC through
    isql -version.
  • Specify the correct odbc.ini file through the environment variable ODBCINI.

Error "Invalid UTF-8 character in input"

Wrong locale defined in the LC_ALL variable.

Define a locale in the LC_ALL variable that can display the characters properly.

Missing or wrong characters in output of console or your ODBC application

Incompatible locale defined in the odbc.ini file.

Set the environment variables LC_CTYPE and LC_NUMERIC or the parameters CONNECTIONLCCTYPE and CONNECTIONLCNUMERIC in the odbc.ini file to a locale that can display the characters.

Applications using the DataDirect driver manager need UTF-8 locales.