SQL Response probe error: Format of the initialization string does not conform to the OLE DB specification.

Products

• DX Unified Infrastructure Management (Nimsoft / UIM)

Issue/Introduction

I have deployed the sql response probe to one of our UIM database nodes because I want to capture query response times. However, when trying to create a connection either with OLE or ODBC I am seeing this error:

Profile cmd_check_connection_string, check connection, COM error (0x80040e73) Dispatch error #3187 - [Microsoft OLE DB Service Components] Format of the initialization string does not conform to the OLE DB specification.
 

Environment

UIM v8.51
sql_response v1.66
Windows 2012 R2
MSSQL any version

Cause

The error message is quite cryptic and would lead one to believe that this is a problem with the jdbc connection string attempting to connect to the back end database.
In reality, the sql_response probe is complaining about the password that is being issued during the connection test.

Double quotes hold a special place in connection string logic. It is used normally to house the data being passed. The getConnectionString function is getting tripped up by the use of it and is coming back saying that the format of the password is bad.

 

Resolution

The recommendation is to use something other than double-quote in the password.
 

Additional Information

Acceptable alternatives: ? & # @ ^
Avoiding using back-slash anywhere in the password and also avoid using exclamation in the beginning of the password.