Connect with MariaDB Connector/ODBC

Overview

Application developers can use MariaDB Connector/ODBC to establish a data source for client connections with MariaDB database products.

The method for configuring the data source varies between operating systems.

Configuring a Data Source on Linux

  1. Configure unixODBC to recognize the driver by creating a file called MariaDB_odbc_driver_template.ini with the relevant driver definition.

    For example, on CentOS / RHEL / Rocky Linux:

    [MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Driver]
    Description = MariaDB Connector/ODBC v.3.1
    Driver      = /usr/lib64/libmaodbc.so
    

    On Debian / Ubuntu:

    [MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Driver]
    Description = MariaDB Connector/ODBC v.3.1
    Driver      = /usr/lib/libmaodbc.so
    
  2. Install the driver using the odbcinst command.

    For example:

    $ sudo odbcinst -i -d -f MariaDB_odbc_driver_template.ini
    odbcinst: Driver installed. Usage count increased to 1.
    Target directory is /etc
    
  3. Determine the connection parameters for your database.

  4. Configure unixODBC to connect to the data source by creating a file called MariaDB_odbc_data_source_template.ini with the relevant data source parameters.

    For example:

    # Data Source for unixODBC
    [My-Test-Server]
    Description = Describe your database setup here
    Driver      = MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Driver
    Trace       = Yes
    TraceFile   = /tmp/trace.log
    SERVER      = localhost
    SOCKET      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
    USER        = db_user
    PASSWORD    = db_user_password
    DATABASE    = test
    
    # Data Source for unixODBC
    [My-Test-Server]
    Description = Describe your database setup here
    Driver      = MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Driver
    Trace       = Yes
    TraceFile   = /tmp/trace.log
    SERVER      = example.skysql.net
    PORT        = 5001
    SSLCA       = /path/to/skysql_chain.pem
    USER        = db_user
    PASSWORD    = db_user_password
    DATABASE    = test
    
    • Customize the values of the parameters with the relevant information for your environment.

  5. Install the unixODBC data source template file:

    $ sudo odbcinst -i -s -h -f MariaDB_odbc_data_source_template.ini
    
  6. Test the data source My-Test-Server configured in the MariaDB_odbc_data_source_template.ini file using the isql command:

    $ isql My-Test-Server
    +-------------------------+
    | Connected!              |
    | sql-statement           |
    | help[tablename]         |
    | quit                    |
    +-------------------------+
    SQL>
    
  7. To select your new data source in your application, select the data source with the name that you configured, which is My-Test-Server in the above example.

Configuring a Data Source on macOS

  1. Confirm that MariaDB Connector/ODBC has been registered with iODBC by confirming that the following options are set in the iODBC configuration file at /Library/ODBC/odbcinst.ini:

    [ODBC]
    Trace     = no
    TraceFile = /tmp/iodbc_trace.log
    
    [ODBC Drivers]
    MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Unicode Driver = Installed
    
    [MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Unicode Driver]
    Driver      = /Library/MariaDB/MariaDB-Connector-ODBC/libmaodbc.dylib
    Description = MariaDB Connector/ODBC(Unicode) 3.1 64bit
    Threading   = 0
    
  2. Determine the connection parameters for your database.

  3. Add a data source for your database to iODBC by adding the following options to the iODBC configuration file at /Library/ODBC/odbc.ini:

    [ODBC Data Sources]
    My-Test-Server = MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Unicode Driver
    
    [My-Test-Server]
    Driver   = /Library/MariaDB/MariaDB-Connector-ODBC/libmaodbc.dylib
    SERVER   = 192.0.2.1
    DATABASE = test
    USER     = db_user
    PASSWORD = db_user_password
    
    • Substitute the values of the SERVER, SOCKET, DATABASE, PORT, USER, and PASSWORD parameters with the relevant value for your environment.

  4. Test the data source using the iodbctest command:

    $ iodbctest "DSN=My-Test-Server"
    
  5. To select your new data source in your application, select the data source with the name that you configured, which is My-Test-Server in the above example.

Configuring a Data Source on Windows

MariaDB Connector/ODBC requires at least Windows 8.

Windows 10 was used to prepare these instructions. When using other versions of Windows, these instructions may require adjustment.

  1. In the start menu, search for "ODBC Data Sources".

  2. In the search results, open the application called "ODBC Data Sources (32-bit)" or "ODBC Data Sources (64-bit)", depending on whether you need a data source for a 32-bit or 64-bit application.

  3. In the ODBC Data Source Administrator, click the "Add" button on the right side.

  4. In the "Create New Data Source" window:

    • Click on "MariaDB ODBC 3.1 Driver" in the list.

    • Click the "Finish" button.

  5. In the "Create a new Data Source to MariaDB" window:

    • In the "Name" text box, enter a name for the data source.

    • In the "Description" test box, enter a description for the data source.

    • Click the "Next" button.

  6. In the next window, provide the connection credentials:

    • In the "Server Name" field, provide the IP address or domain name for the Server.

    • In the "User name" field, provide the username for the database user account.

    • In the "Password" field, provide the password for that user.

    • In the "Database" field, provide the the default database to use.

    • Then, click the "Next" button.

  7. Continue configuring the data source using the wizard:

    • The wizard provides a series of windows for configuring various aspects of the connection, such as enabling TLS encryption. Enable settings you want to use.

    • Click the "Next" button to move onto the next window in the wizard.

    • Click the "Finish" on the last window to exit the wizard and save your data source.

  8. To select your new data source in your application, select the data source with the name that you configured for the "Name" field.

Failover

MariaDB Connector/ODBC supports failover in case one or more hosts are not available.

The failover feature requires using MariaDB Connector/ODBC 3.1.16 or greater with MariaDB Connector/C 3.3 or greater.

MariaDB Connector/ODBC 3.1.16 and greater is statically linked for Windows and macOS with MariaDB Connector/C 3.3.1. MariaDB Connector/ODBC 3.1.16 and greater is dynamically linked for Linux with MariaDB Connector/C.

The failover feature is enabled by providing a comma separated list of hosts as a server name.

The failover host string is the SERVER string. If the SERVER string does not include a port, the default port will be used.

The following syntax is required:

  • IPv6 addresses must be enclosed within square brackets "[]"

  • hostname and port must be separated by a colon ":"

  • hostname:port pairs must be be separated by a comma ","

  • If only one hostname:port is specified, the host string must end with a comma

  • If no port is specified, the default port will be used

An example of a failover host string:

[::1]:3306,192.168.0.1:3307,test.example.com

Connection Parameters

Connection Parameter

Description

Default Value

DRIVER

  • On Linux, the name of the driver, which is configured in the unixODBC driver template file.

  • On macOS, the path to the driver's shared library, which is installed at /Library/MariaDB/MariaDB-Connector-ODBC/libmaodbc.dylib by default.

SERVER

Host name, IPv4 address, or IPv6 address of the database server.

localhost

SOCKET

  • The path to the socket file. On Linux, MariaDB Enterprise Server uses different default socket files on different Linux distributions.

  • On Debian / Ubuntu, the default socket file is /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock or /run/mysqld/mysqld.sock.

  • On CentOS / RHEL / Rocky Linux, the default socket file is /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock.

/tmp/mysql.sock

DATABASE

Database name to select upon successful connection. The database must already exist, and the user account must have privileges to select it.

PORT

TCP port of the database server.

3306

USER

The username to use for authentication.

PASSWORD

User password.

FORWARDONLY

When enabled, cursors are created as SQL_CURSOR_FORWARD_ONLY, so they can only move forward. Starting in Connector/ODBC 3.2, cursors are SQL_CURSOR_FORWARD_ONLY by default. In previous releases, cursors are created as SQL_CURSOR_STATIC by default.

NO_CACHE

When enabled, result set streaming is enabled, which enables the application to fetch result sets from the server row-by-row instead of caching the entire result set on the client side. Since the application is not caching the entire result set, the application is less likely to run out of memory when working with large result sets.

STREAMRS

Alias for the NO_CACHE connection parameter.

OPTIONS

See OPTIONS Bitmask.

PREPONCLIENT

When enabled, the SQLPrepare ODBC API function uses the text protocol and client-side prepared statements (CSPS).

ATTR

Sets connection attributes that can be queried via the performance_schema.session_account_connect_attrsperformance_schema.session_account_connect_attrs and performance_schema.session_connect_attrsperformance_schema.session_connect_attrs tables when performance_schemaperformance_schema is enabled. Specify attributes in the format ATTR={<attrname1>=<attrvalue1>[,<attrname2=attrvalue2,...]}

What

Where to find it

DRIVER

  • On Linux, the name of the driver, which is configured in the unixODBC driver template file.

  • On macOS, the path to the driver's shared library, which is installed at /Library/MariaDB/MariaDB-Connector-ODBC/libmaodbc.dylib by default.

SERVER

Fully Qualified Domain Name in the Service Details view

PORT

Read-Write Port or Read-Only Port in the Service Details view

USER

Default username in the Service Credentials view, or the username you created

PASSWORD

Default password in the Service Credentials view, the password you set on the default user, or the password for the user you created

SSLCA

Path to the skysql_chain.pem file containing the "Certificate Authority Chain" (Download)

FORCETLS

Set to 1 to enable TLS

FORWARDONLY

When enabled, cursors are created as SQL_CURSOR_FORWARD_ONLY, so they can only move forward. Starting in Connector/ODBC 3.2, cursors are SQL_CURSOR_FORWARD_ONLY by default. In previous releases, cursors are created as SQL_CURSOR_STATIC by default.

NO_CACHE

When enabled, result set streaming is enabled, which enables the application to fetch result sets from the server row-by-row instead of caching the entire result set on the client side. Since the application is not caching the entire result set, the application is less likely to run out of memory when working with large result sets.

STREAMRS

Alias for the NO_CACHE connection parameter.

OPTIONS

See OPTIONS Bitmask.

PREPONCLIENT

When enabled, the SQLPrepare ODBC API function uses the text protocol and client-side prepared statements (CSPS).

ATTR

Sets connection attributes that can be queried via the performance_schema.session_account_connect_attrs and performance_schema.session_connect_attrs tables when performance_schema is enabled. Specify attributes in the format ATTR={<attrname1>=<attrvalue1>[,<attrname2=attrvalue2,...]}

OPTIONS Bitmask

The OPTIONS bitmask contains the following bits:

Bit Number

Bit Value

Description

0

1

Unused

1

2

Tells connector to return the number of matched rows instead of number of changed rows

4

16

Same as NO_PROMPT connection parameter

5

32

Forces all cursors to be dynamic

6

64

Forbids the DATABASE_NAME.TABLE_NAME.COLUMN_NAME syntax

11

2048

Enables compression in the protocol

13

8192

Same as the NAMEDPIPE connection parameter

16

65536

Same as the USE_MYCNF connection parameter

20

1048576

Same as the NO_CACHE connection parameter

21

2097152

Same as the FORWARDONLY connection parameter

22

4194304

Same as the AUTO_RECONNECT connection parameter

26

67108864

Enables multi-statement queries