Progress Data Direct SQL Driver

[kiran_mk]

Hello All,

We plan to upgrade the ODBC driver to the latest version on an AIX machine. Is it possible to run the old and new drivers running simultaneously? As far as I know, the SAS will pick up whichever driver path is specified in the sasenv local file. But I'm curious to know if there is a solution.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

[SASKiwi]

It is possible to identify the ODBC driver in a LIBNAME connection string. Here is one we use:

libname SQLSRVR odbc noprompt = "server=SQLServerName;DRIVER=SQL Server Native Client 11.0;Trusted Connection=yes" DATABASE = MyDatabase schema = dbo;

Not sure how you configure SAS for multiple ODBC drivers on AIX. We use Windows and you can use the connection string to point to any ODBC driver installed in the ODBC Administrator tool. No other configuration is required. On Unix you have an odbc.ini file to configure.

[kiran_mk]

Hey @SASKiwi Thanks for your response.

We are currently using Progress Data Direct 7.1 and plan to upgrade to version 8.0 to support SQL 2017. We configure our connections in the odbc.ini file, and when we install the new driver, the variables need to be set to point the ODBCINI and ODBCINST and the new driver path in sasenv , so SAS can pick up the latest driver. I don't think we set any variables in Windows to point to a specific driver, hence the below libname works? please correct me if I am wrong.

[SASKiwi]

I'm not familiar with Progress but you can find recommended connection strings here: https://www.connectionstrings.com/progress/

I suspect you could set up multiple DSNs pointing to different ODBC drivers.

[Sajid01]

In principle yes.
Make sure you install them to different folders/paths.

[kiran_mk]

@Sajid01 Thanks for your response. 

So if i understood correctly the install location should be different from the old driver.

for eg: Old driver is already installed in Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_71, the new driver installation location will be  /Progress/DataDirect/Connect64_for_ODBC_80

What about the variables, LIBPATH  & path defined in sasenv_local ? These are pointed to the old driver, how can we make both drivers work side by side?

[Sajid01]

Your objective is to ensure that both the database drivers be running simultaneously.
The path of the new driver should be appended to the existing LD_LIB_PATH in the sasenv_local.
To make both the drivers available side by side , then new DSN names need to be created to make use of the new drivers,  in the odbc configuration files. Thus any code that is to use the new driver, should use the new name.

[kiran_mk]

SAS apps were unable to locate the new driver. As a workaround, we added the new driver LIBPATH to the sasenv local file, which now works!

Thanks @Sajid01 @SASKiwi  for your advise.

[Sajid01]

Great. Good to know that it is working.
I did mention in my posts that libpath variable in sasenv_local needs to be updated.