How to define a portable Data Source for IDMS Server's ODBC Driver

Products

• IDMS
• IDMS - Database
• IDMS - ADS

Issue/Introduction

Description:

ODBC Data Source definitions are typically associated with a single PC/workstation. However, in some instances there may be a need to share these definitions with multiple PCs/workstations. This article documents the steps to define a portable data source for use with the IDMS Server ODBC Driver.

Solution:

There are several types of Data Sources that you can create in ODBC:

• 'System' Data Source - available and visible to all Windows users.

This type of Data Source only usable on the current machine.

• 'User' Data Source- available only to the user who defined it.

This type of Data Source only usable on the current machine.

• 'File Data Source - can be shared by all users who have the same driver installed

As you can see, not all of these ODBC Data Source types are portable.

The 'System' and 'User' of Data Source types have their attributes stored in the Windows Registry and are 'not' portable.

On the other hand, the 'File' Data Source type has its attributes stored in a file and is portable. 'File' type Data sources use an extension of ".dsn". And can be found (by default) in the following directory:

 	C:\Program Files\Common Files\ODBC\Data Sources 

Take the following steps to create a File Data Source:

1. Invoke the ODBC Administrator application from the CA IDMS Server menu.
   
   
2. Select the 'File' DSN Data Source tab.
   
   

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3. Select the 'Add' button to create a new data source.
   
   

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   Select a driver name 'CA IDMS for the 17.0 release of the IDMS ODBC Driver. Note that earlier releases of this driver had a driver name of 'CA-IDMS'.
   Press the Next button.
   
   

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   Type the 'File' Data Source name, for example 'MyidmsDsn' and press the Next button.
   
   

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   Press 'Finish' to exit the Microsoft ODBC administrator and enter CA IDMS ODBC administrator.
   
   

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   Enter appropriate values for: Dictionary, Node Name, User Id, Password, and Task Code. Note that task code CASERVER should normally be used for the CCI communications protocol and task code IDMSJSRV should normally be used for the IDMS Communication protocol.
   
   Users who are connected to an IDMSR17.0 or greater CV should select Communications Protocol IDMS in order to realize the benefits of direct TCP/IP communications with IDMS. Enter the appropriate value for the Host Name and Port attributes. The Wait Timeout specification should typically be around 30 seconds. The value represents the time that the ODBC client will wait for a response from the IDMS CV before a timeout occurs.
   
   The 'File' Data Source, 'MyidmsDsn.dsn' will be stored in the default directory: C:\Program Files\Common Files\ODBC\Data Sources.
   
   

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   The 'File' DSN (MyidmsDsn.dsn) can be sent to other PCs and copied into the appropriate directory on the target machine.
   
   

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   For more information on the configuration of Data Sources for the IDMS ODBC driver, please refer to Chapter 5 within the CA IDMS Server User guide.

Environment

Release: IDADSO00100-17-ADS-for CA-IDMS
Component: