unixODBC

Keywords: How to Install unixODBC,freeTDS on Debian Linux.

Install odbc, and mssql drivers (tdsodbc)

apt-get update
apt-get install tdsodbc unixodbc

Create a driver template.

vi /etc/freetds/tds.driver.template

Inside add :

[TDS]
Description     = FreeTDS Driver for Linux & MSSQL on Win32
Driver          = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
Setup           = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsS.so

Now dsn file:

vi /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

And inside add:

[DSN_NAME]
Description     = Descripton of you DSN connection.
Driver          = TDS
Trace           = No
Database        = DefaultDatabase [replace with your database name]
Server          = mysqlserver.inter.net [replace with your SQL server's host,ip]
Port            = 1433 [replace with the port that SQL is listening on]
TDS_Version     = 8.0

Now run this command to add your driver to unixodbc

odbcinst -i -d -f /etc/freetds/tds.driver.template

Now you add dsn. You have 2 options.
Add system DSN for all users

odbcinst -i -s -l -f /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

Add dsn to a user your are running a command on:

odbcinst -i -s -f /etc/freetds/tds.dsn.template

Now test your connection:

isql -v DSN_NAME username password

You should get something like

**********************************************
* unixODBC - isql                            *
**********************************************
* Syntax                                     *
*                                            *
.
.
.
more
.

Troubleshooting

If you can not connect it is probable that your database is listening on a different port.
Try this:

telnet myserver 1433

You should see something like:

Trying 10.3.3.10...
Connected to myserver.
Escape character is '^]'.

type quit to exit. Replace 1433 with a port number, replace myserver with your servers name.

If you still get connection refused try telnet from windows and see if you get same answer.