Odbc

MySQL, ODBC with OpenOffice Setup on LocalHost

This document shows how to set up ODBC in Arch, first to access you database on your localhost and then extends the steps to configure MySQL to allow remote access through ODBC.

Packages To Install

Start by installing the unixodbc and myodbc

# pacman -Sy unixodbc
# pacman -Sy myodbc

Configure Your ini Files

Configure your "odbc.ini", ".odbc.ini", and "odbcinst.ini" file. Startinig with odbcinst.ini, Su to root and set up your /etc/odbcinst.ini file as follows

[MySQL]
Description     = ODBC Driver for MySQL
Driver          = /usr/lib/libmyodbc.so
Setup           = /usr/lib/libodbcmyS.so
FileUsage       = 1

Next set up your "odbc.ini" and ".odbc.ini" file. It should be pointed out here that the ".odbc.ini" file is just like the "odbc.ini" file except that it is a file that gets saved in the user's home dir (i.e a hidden file).

[MySQL-test]
 Description     = MySQL database test
Driver          = MySQL
Server          = localhost
atabase         = test
Port            = 3306
Socket          = /tmp/mysql.sock
Option          =
Stmt            =

Create A Symbolic Link

Next we need to create a symlink for libmyodbc.so. To do this we need to go to /usr/lib/myodbc3-3.51.12.so or whatever the version of the module is and set up a symlink to libmyodbc.so

ln -s /usr/lib/libmyodbc3-3.51.12.so ./libmyodbc.so

Renamed Modules

OK, for this step I cheap-skated it a little and simply copy these files to agree with version of ODBC that Arch was looking for.

cp libssl.so.0.9.8 libssl.so.0.9.7
cp libcrypto.so.0.9.8 libcrypto.so.0.9.7

Create A Test Datbase

On my machine I run phpmyadmin so I already had a test database to use. If you don't have a test database then create one in MySQL.

Testing the ODBC

To test the ODBC connection

isql MySQL-test

If the connection is established, you will see

+---------------------------------------+
| Connected!                            |
|                                       |
| sql-statement                         |
| help [tablename]                      |
| quit                                  |
|                                       |
+---------------------------------------+
SQL>

If you have a problem connecting then check the error message by running

isql MySQL-test -v

A Couple Useful Websites

http://www.unixodbc.org/doc/OOoMySQL.pdf

This website got me going on ODBC with MySQL but left out some things that were necessary for me to get isql up and running. However this might be a good reference for the OpenOffice part.

http://mail.easysoft.com/pipermail/unixodbc-support/2004-August/000111.html

To work around error messages this URL proved helpful so here it is as well.

MySQL, ODBC with OpenOffice Setup on the Remote Server

Edit odbc.ini

From the Client side it is neccessary to edit the odbc.ini and the .odbc.ini files slightly. Here is the odbc.ini that I used to login.

[MySQL-test]
Description     = MySQL database test
Driver          = MySQL
Server          = 192.168.0.102
Trace           = Off
TraceFile       = stderr
Database        = test
Port            = 3306
USER            = username
Password        = secretpassword
Socket          = /tmp/mysql.sock
Option          =
Stmt            =

Edit my.cnf

Edit /etc/my.cnf so that port 3306 will be running to do this comment out skip-networking and also add bind-address = your IP

#skip-networking
bind-address =192.168.0.100

Edit hosts.allow

Next add a line in "hosts.allow"

mysqld:ALL

It is recommended to do something like mysql:192.168.0.102 or whatever your client machine would be.

Verify Port 3360 is Listening

restart the mysql server with the command "/etc/rc.d/mysqld restart" and then check to see that port 3306 is listening on the server

netstat -ant

If port 3306 is open, you'll see the following

Active Internet connections (servers and established)
Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address           Foreign Address         State
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3306           0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN

Permissions on MySQL for Remote Connection

Next it is neccesary to give permissions on the server so that MySQL will allow a remote connection. Type "mysql -u "username" -p" and log into you MySQL

mysql> CREATE DATABASE test;
mysql> GRANT ALL ON test.* TO username@'192.168.0.101' IDENTIFIED BY 'PASSWORD';

http://www.cyberciti.biz/nixcraft/vivek/blogger/2006/03/how-do-i-enable-remote-access-to-mysql.php

Here was a helpful URL for this step.

Testing the ODBC

run the "isql MySQL-test" command and you should be able to log into your server.

Miscellaneous

The main error message that took a while for me to figure out was the error message "Lost connection to MySQL server during query". This was being driven from the hosts.allow not being added.

Also from the client you can run the following command to verify that port 3306 is open

telnet 192.168.0.102 3306

Good luck and happy computing now that you can get OpenOffice to connect to you datbases. Alex & HW