22.1.4.4. Configuring a Connector/ODBC DSN on Mac OS X

To configure a DSN on Mac OS X, you can either use the command-line utility (myodbc-installer with connector/ODBC 5.1, or myodbc3i with connector/OCBC 3.51), edit the odbc.ini file within the Library/ODBC directory of the user, or use the ODBC Administrator GUI. If you have Mac OS X 10.2 or earlier, refer to Section 22.1.4.5, "Configuring a Connector/ODBC DSN on Unix". Select whether to create a User DSN or a System DSN. When adding a System DSN, you might need to authenticate with the system. Click the padlock and enter a user and password with administrator privileges.

For correct operation of ODBC Administrator, ensure that the /Library/ODBC/odbc.ini file used to set up ODBC connectivity and DSNs are writable by the admin group. If this file is not writable by this group, then the ODBC Administrator may fail, or may appear to work but not generate the correct entry.

Warning

There are known issues with the Mac OS X ODBC Administrator and Connector/ODBC that may prevent you from creating a DSN using this method. In this case, use the command line or edit the odbc.ini file directly. Note that existing DSNs or those that you create using the myodbc3i or myodbc-installer tool can still be checked and edited using ODBC Administrator.

To create a DSN using the myodbc3i utility, you need only specify the DSN type and the DSN connection string. For example:

shell> myodbc3i -a -s -t"DSN=mydb;DRIVER=MySQL ODBC 3.51 Driver;SERVER=mysql;USER=username;PASSWORD=pass"

To use ODBC Administrator:

Open the ODBC Administrator from the Utilities folder in the Applications folder.
On the User DSN or System DSN panel, click Add.
Select the Connector/ODBC driver and click OK.
You will be presented with the Data Source Name dialog. Enter the Data Source Name and an optional Description for the DSN.
Click Add to add a new keyword/value pair to the panel. Configure at least four pairs to specify the server, username, password and database connection parameters. See Section 22.1.4.2, "Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters".
Click OK to add the DSN to the list of configured data source names.

A completed DSN configuration may look like this:

You can configure other ODBC options in your DSN by adding further keyword/value pairs and setting the corresponding values. See Section 22.1.4.2, "Connector/ODBC Connection Parameters".