SAS Enterprise Guide connection with Databricks

[armaiti]

We have a SAS 9.4 perpetual license on linux. %put &sysvlong4; shows it is 9.04.01M7. proc product_status shows we have SAS/ACCESS to ODBC. We have also successfull connection established to ODBC database. However the requirement is to establish a connection to Databricks through SAS 9.4 ODBC. I have seen the solutions posted here (https://communities.sas.com/t5/Administration-and-Deployment/SAS-9-4-M7-and-Azure-Delta-Lake/m-p/829...) and here (https://communities.sas.com/t5/SAS-Enterprise-Guide/step-by-step-approach-to-connect-from-SAS-EG-8-3.... We are aware that for M7 September 2025 is the last month for Standard Technical Support. Unfortunately we do not have SAS AMC or Premium Technical Support.

Question : Would SAS Standard Technical Support for M7 until September 2025 cover the installation of Databricks ODBC driver and the mentioned solution in the above link? If Standard Support does not cover this then what can we do from an admin side to make this work?

[ChrisHemedinger]

To clarify what it means for SAS 9.4M7 to go out of Standard Support (Sept 2025): 

- Of course the software still works!

- Limited support doesn't mean "no support" -- rather, you should refer to the terms here on support.sas.com. In short though, software in Limited Support is not eligible for regular fixes, elevated support cases, etc. But you can still find answers on the community, documentation, and through lower-priority support cases.

All that said, we encourage customers to update their SAS 9.4 installations to the most recent maintenance.

Now, the technical aspect of your question: if you have ODBC working in general, then I would expect you to be able to configure an ODBC connection to Databricks if you have the required client setup. SAS/ACCESS to ODBC is a general access method that supports the ODBC standard and doesn't necessarily take advantage of any special database capabilities, but it usually gets the job done.

(Note: with SAS Enterprise Guide you can also use File->Open->ODBC to connect directly to a data source using a Windows ODBC connector. However, this uses EG as the conduit for data -- not SAS code -- and will be slower. But it can be a proof of concept.)

[armaiti]

Thank you for your reply.

I have done the following post your reply:-

- Added my user ID as a sudo user in RHEL 7.9 server

- Made the server rebooted

- Enabled internet access and created a directory /sas/databricks-odbc

- Downloaded the Databricks ODBC Simbaspark driver which came in zipped format before unpacking to "simbaspark_2.9.1.1001-l.x86_64.rpm"

- Went to "root", with "sudo su", navigated to the above directory and unzipped the zip file into .rpm file

- Verified that unixODBC-2.3.7-l.rh.x86_64 is present in the server

- odbcinst -q -d shows [Simba Spark ODBC Driver] & [MSSQL-ODBCXX]

- Used sudo tee -a /etc/odbcinst.ini <<'EOF'

[Simba Spark ODBC Driver]

Description=Simba Spark ODBC Driver

Driver=/opt/simba/spark/lib/64/libsparkodbc_sb64.so

FileUsage=1

EOF

- Verfied using ls -l /opt/simba/spark/lib/64/libsparkodbc_sb64.so : Shows the path in root

Now when I am using isql -v "" "Driver=/opt/simba/spark/lib/64/libsparkodbc_sb64.so;Host=;Port=443;HTTPPath=;SSL=1;ThirftTransport=2;AuthMech=3;UID=;PWD=;" I am getting [IM002][unixODBC][Driver Manager] Data source name not found and no default driver specified. [ISQL]Error:Could not SQLConnect

Is there anything I am missing here?

Do we need to reboot the server again?

Am I missing any .env file in /sas/home/ ?

Your help would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[SASKiwi · Accepted solution]

Looks like you are missing the post-install configuration of environment variables for ODBC: https://go.documentation.sas.com/doc/en/bicdc/9.4/bidsag/p1w3v98qca3sfzn1rzty2tngrfyq.htm

[armaiti]

Thanks for the reply. I was on the verge of modifying the sas environment local file. I realized the odbc.ini file was not getting saved unless I enter as a root user. I have edited the .ini file in /etc/odbc.ini and added the Databricks DSN information and also the [Simba Spark ODBC Driver] details having the path to driver. When I check "file /opt/simba/spark/lib/64/libsparkodbc_sb64.so" I can see the 64-bit LSB shared object response. However when I do "ldd /opt/simba/spark/lib/64/libsparkodbc_sb64.so" I see the following not found. 

/lib64/libm.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.27' not found
/lib64/libc.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.28' not found
/lib64/libc.so.6: version 'GLIBC_2.25' not found

I checked the blogs and unfortunately I could not find any compatible Databricks ODBC driver which specifically supports GLIBC_2.17. Hence, I am not even getting any response from "isql -v Databricks" command. But the 2.9.1.1001-x86_64 is successfully installed and showing odbc.ini file now. Atleast what the drivers link guided to.

Is there any way I can proceed from here, may be a different version of ODBC driver or what shall I do next? Any help would be much appreciated please.

[SASKiwi]

I suggest you open a Tech Support track. I'm just providing advice from the documentation as I've never used Databricks.