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Connecting to ASE Using OLTP in Sybase
To begin with you need to be certain that you can connect to your Linux hosted Sybase ASE database from your windows based machine. Do this by running isql from your Linux box and connect to the database, if this works, then your all set. You will need the Sybase ODBC driver, this came with the PC Client package. If you got your Windows Open Client software through some other means, then you may need to down load the ODBCgt; driver, this will become apparent later. Right, begin by launching the 32 bit ODBC administrator, either from the Sybase menu under start -& programs or the control panel. Ensure that you are displaying the "user DSN" section (by clicking on the appropriate tab).
You can then click on the button labeled add to move to the driver selection dialog. Select Sybase System 11 and click on finish. You will by now have noticed that this is Microsoft's way of taunting you and you haven't actually finished yet, you're actually at the next dialog. What you have actually done is told windows that you are now about to configure your Sybase ODBC driver. There are 4 boxes on the dialog with which you are now presented, and they are:
Data Source Name
Description
Server Name
Database Name
The data source name is the Server name from your interfaces file on your Linux server. If you are uncertain of any of these values, then log onto your Linux box, run dsedit and take a look. It will only take you 2 minutes and much easier than debugging it later. The description field is irrelevant and you can put anything in there that is meaningful to you. Server name is the IP address of the Linux server, that is hosting your database. Database name is the name of a database to which you want to connect, once your Sybase connection has been established. If in doubt, you can stick master in there for now, at least you'll get a connection. Now you can click on OK to get back to the starting screen, followed by another OK to exit ODBC administrator. We will now test the connection by running Sybase Central. I chosen this because I figure that if you downloaded the PC Client package, then I know you've got it (at least I'm fairly sure). When you launch Sybase administrator from start->programs->Sybase, you are presented with a connection dialog. There are 3 fields in this box
User ID
Password
Server Name
In the field labeled UserID, you can type in sa. If you've been doing some work on Sybase through other means and you have already created a valid user, then you can use him (her, it, whatever). In the password field, type in the appropriate password. Assuming you have changed nothing from the
original Sybase install and you are using sa, then you will leave this blank. The final field is a dropdown list box containing all the Sybase remote connections you have. Assuming you only have the one, then you can leave this alone. If you have more than one, stick to the one that you know works for now and that allows access to the user you've used. In simple English (and if you don't speak English, then I hope somebody has translated it :-) ). If this is a clean install and you have altered nothing after following the instruction earlier to establish an Open Client, then the top box should contain simply "sa", the middle box should be blank, and the bottom list-box should contain whatever the servername is in your Linux based interfaces file. Clicking on OK will now connect Sybase Central to the database and "away you go"...
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