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Configuring Server Connections

You must configure a server connection in order to view database information. Below message will be displayed when DB Solo is first started or if a database server has not been configured.

Figure - No Configured Server Connections

Choosing OK will bring up the Add Server Connection screen as displayed below.

Note: This screen will also be displayed when you right click Server, on DB Solo's main window, and choose the Add Server button.

Figure - Add Server Connection

Note: If you are using DMBS for which there is no bundled driver, the appropriate driver needs to be added. Click on the Plus sign next to the Driver field and proceed to Adding (Java Database Connectivity) JDBC Driver.

1. Select a driver from the pull-down menu in the Add Server Connection dialog screen. Enter a Name and Host for your database server.
2. Enter the TCP Port that your database server is listening to. The default value depends on the database you are connecting to.
3. Enter the Username and Password for your database user account.
4. Choose Test and DB Solo will try to connect to the specified server. If DB Solo successfully connects to the server, the Connection Test Successful screen will be displayed.

Figure - Connection Test Successful

5. Choosing Yes will add the connection and return you to DB Solo's main window. Selecting No will bring you back to the Add Server Connection screen.

Adding (Java Database Connectivity) JDBC Driver

DB Solo uses JDBC drivers to communicate with your database server. This means you will need to add the appropriate driver unless you are using one of the drivers bundled with DB Solo.

DB Solo comes bundled with a jTDS open source JDBC driver .jar file that works with Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase Adaptive Server Enterprise (ASE) databases. DB Solo also comes with drivers for Oracle, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL and DB2.

If you are connecting to a DBMS for which there is no bundled driver or if you wish to use the generic JDBC driver feature, you will need to download the drivers from their vendor's website.

Figure - Add JDBC Driver

1. Enter a Name for the driver.
2. Chose one of the Driver Types
3. Browse to the JDBC driver jar file by first clicking on the folder-icon.
4. If you need to download a driver choose the Download button. You will be connected to the website for the selected Driver Type.
5. Choose Add to add the driver. The Add Server Connection screen will be re-displayed.

Oracle Thin

The Oracle thin driver is a pure Java JDBC driver and does not require Oracle client software to be installed. With this driver you can connect to SID or service name based server installations. To connect using a SID, just enter the SID in the corresponding field. To connect to a service name, use the following notation:
/myservice
where 'myservice' is the service name you wish to use.

Oracle OCI

The Oracle OCI driver requires a locally installed Oracle client software to work properly. Notice that this driver will only work with Oracle 10g client software, version 9 or earlier will not work. With this driver you only need to supply values for username, password and service name. The service name must map to an entry in your locally installed TNSNAMES.ORA file.

MySQL JDBC

MySQL JDBC driver is bundled with DB Solo, so you can create a new MySQL server connection that uses the driver without having to perform any additional downloads.

Cassandra

Cassandra driver is bundled with DB Solo, so you can create a new Cassandra server connection that uses the driver without having to perform any additional downloads.

Vertica JDBC

The Vertica JDBC driver is not bundled with DB Solo, so you must download it from the HP Vertica site first. After downloading the driver jar file, add a new driver and select 'Vertica' as the driver type and point to the jar file you downloaded.

SQL Server

SQL Server connections use jTDS pure Java JDBC driver. It is possible to connect to servers using either SQL Server authentication or Windows authentication. To connect using Windows authentication, enter the name of the domain in the 'Domain' entry field. Notice that you have to enter your username and password even when you are already logged into the correct domain. If you are using SQL Server authentication, you must leave the 'Domain' field blank.

To connect to an instance, you can use of the following two notations in the 'Host' field:

\host\instance

\\host\instance

where host is the host name and instance is the name of the instance you want to use.

DB2 - JDBC

The standard DB2 driver is a pure Java JDBC driver that does not need locally installed client software unlike the Type 2 driver. For this connection type, you have to enter the standard connection attributes; host, port, user, password and the database.

DB2 - JDBC (Type 2)

The Type 2 driver requires that you have installed native code DB2 client software (Runtime client/Application development client) on the computer you are trying to connect from. As a result of this, you only have to enter the database/alias name of the server you want to connect to, you don't have to set the host or port. For this driver type, the username and password are optional, if you don't supply them the the OS credentials from your local system will be used. Notice that you need to enter both username and password, or leave both blank.

Using the Type 2 driver is also recommended if your database server is on the same machine as your DB Solo client software.

H2

To connect to an H2 database, you need to use the generic JDBC driver type. As long as the supplied JDBC URL starts with 'jdbc:h2' DB Solo will recognize the connection as an H2 connection.


Common Connection Error Messages

Below you can find some of the most common error messages you would receive when trying to a connect to a particular database, including the most likely cause of the error.

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