1. Data Virtualization Demoette… ODBC Clients
Hello, and welcome to the Demoette series for Cisco Information Server, or CIS.
In this Demoette, we discuss connecting as a client to CIS via ODBC.

2. Agenda What is it and why does it matter? A basic demo Summary
Here is our agenda.
We begin by defining ODBC client connectivity to CIS and outlining its importance for our customers.
Next we walk through a very basic demo of ODBC connectivity.
Finally, we summarize the contents of this demoette.

3. Agenda What is it and why does it matter? A basic demo Summary
Let’s begin by discussing what ODBC connectivity is, and why it’s important for our customers.

4. What is it? ODBC Client Connectivity to CIS
Open Database Connectivity, an API for SQL databases
Product-independent, language-independent
Client driver installation is required
DSN (Data Source Name)
System
User
File
ODBC stands for Open Database Connectivity. It is an API that allows client software to connect to SQL databases. ODBC is product-independent, which means it can be used to connect to many database products, including CIS. It is also language-independent, which means that programmers may use any language they prefer. ODBC requires that a driver program be installed on each client machine. Cisco provides both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers that may be used to connect clients to CIS.
A very important concept in ODBC is a data structure called a Data Source Name, or DSN. A DSN contains connection information for a specific database. On Windows, the DSN resides either in the registry or as a separate text file. It is also possible to install DSNs on Unix, but this is less common and is beyond the scope of this demoette. The DSN contains information such as the name, directory and driver of the database, and may include the ID and password of the user. A separate DSN is created for each database. There are three kinds of DSNs: user DSNs (sometimes called machine DSN s); system DSN s; and file DSN s. User and system DSNs are specific to a particular computer, and store DSN information in the registry. A User DSN allows database access for a single user on a single computer, and a System DSN allows access for any user of a particular computer. A file DSN contains the relevant information within a text file with a .DSN file extension, and can be shared by users of different computers who have the same drivers installed. For most purposes, Cisco recommends the use of System DSNs. They are more flexible to administer and use.

5. Why does it matter? ODBC Client Connectivity to CIS
Convenient connectivity option for Excel and other Microsoft-centric products
May be a required access technique for some enterprises
ODBC connectivity to CIS is important for many of our customers. It is the most convenient option for connecting to CIS from Excel and other Microsoft-centric projects. In addition, ODBC may be central to the data access architecture of some enterprises.

6. Agenda What is it and why does it matter? A basic demo Summary
Next, let’s walk through a very basic demo of ODBC connectivity to CIS.

7. Demo: Here is the business problem…
CIS
Here is the business problem that we illustrate in this demo. We have created a CIS federated view from underlying physical data sources. A business analyst wants to consume this view into an Excel spreadsheet. We will use ODBC to enable Excel to connect to CIS.

8. Demo: Before you begin
Before you begin this demo, make sure you have the appropriate published resource for your ODBC client connection. No CAR file is required for this demo; simply publish the ViewOrder view that is delivered with Studio in the Examples folder.
<CLICK> Publish as a database, using the Datasource, Catalog, and Schema shown here. You should always use a catalog when publishing an ODBC datasource, because the DSN definition asks for one, as we will see later.
Complete setup instructions are found in the additional resources that accompany this demo.

9. Demo: Determine ODBC Bitness
ODBC requires different DSNs for 32-bit and 64-bit access. Therefore, our first step is to determine the bitness we need. This is not necessarily the bitness of the machine; instead, it is dependent on the bitness of the client software. To find the bitness of our version of Excel, we look at the Account tab…
<CLICK> … then click About Excel.
<CLICK> We see that our version of Excel is 32-bit, even though it is running on a 64-bit machine. We now know that we must create a 32-bit ODBC DSN.

10. Demo: Open the correct ODBC Admin Window
Windows also uses different Control Panel interfaces for 32 and 64 bit DSNs.
<CLICK> If we search for Data Sources in the Windows 7 Control Panel on a 64-bit machine…
<CLICK> …we get a link to the 64-bit administration interface, even though Windows does not explicitly label it as 64 bit.
<CLICK> To get to the 32-bit administration window, we need to navigate to the SysWOW64 directory. WOW stands for Windows on Windows, and yes, it contains 32-bit resources, even though the name of the directory ends in 64.
<CLICK> Search for odcbad32.exe in this directory, and double-click it to start the 32-bit administration window.
<CLICK> Note that Windows 8 is a bit more friendly; a search for Data Sources in the Control Panel gives us clearly-labeled links to both 32 and 64 bit admin interfaces.

11. Demo: Make sure the correct CIS driver is installed
Navigate to the Drivers tab, and make sure the Composite driver is installed.
<CLICK> If it is not present, follow documentation instructions from chapter 3 of the Client Interfaces Guide to install the driver on the client machine. Note that there are separate drivers for 32-bit and 64-bit clients.
<CLICK> Here we show the installation of the 32-bit client.

12. Demo: Create the DSN
Now we are ready to create the DSN. Click the System DSN tab on the ODBC Administration Window, select Add, and the Create New Data Source wizard appears. The first step is to select the Composite driver.
<CLICK> Next, we configure the driver. Give it any DSN name you prefer, but a best practice is to end the name with 32 or 64, in order to avoid any confusion about the bitness of the DSN. For Composite Host, enter the hostname or IP address of the CIS server. The default CIS port for ODBC is Enter the CIS user name and password, as well as the user’s CIS domain name. Note that our Datasource name for this demoette is DemoetteODBC. Click the refresh button, and all Catalogs within this datasource will be accessible in the drop-down widget. In this case, only one catalog is present. Remember that you should always create a catalog when you publish ODBC-accessible resources in CIS.
<CLICK> Click the Test button to make sure the connection is successful.

13. Demo: Connect the Client
Now we can connect the actual production client to CIS. In this demoette, we will use Excel as our client. Go to the Data tab…
<CLICK> … choose From Other Sources…
<CLICK> … and then select From Microsoft Query.
<CLICK> This opens the Microsoft Query Wizard. We select the DSN we defined for CIS, and click OK.
<CLICK> Now we choose the columns we want to include…
<CLICK> … and specify any filter criteria we want.

14. Demo: Connect the Client
Continuing with the Query Wizard, we specify any sort criteria if desired…
<CLICK> … Tell the Query to return data to Excel…
<CLICK> … and tell Excel to import the data to the existing worksheet.

15. Demo: Connect the Client
The data is returned to Excel via the ODBC connection, and our demo is complete.

16. Agenda What is it and why does it matter? A basic demo Summary
Let’s summarize what we have seen in this presentation.

17. Summary Open Database Connectivity, an API for SQL databases
Product-independent, language-independent
Client driver installation is required
DSN (System DSN is recommended)
Benefits
Convenient connectivity option for Excel and other Microsoft-centric products
May be a required access technique for some enterprises
Open Database Connectivity is an API that allows client software to connect to SQL databases. ODBC is product-independent and language-independent. ODBC requires that a driver program be installed on each client machine. Cisco provides both 32-bit and 64-bit drivers that may be used to connect clients to CIS.
A Data Source Name contains connection information for a specific database. For most purposes, Cisco recommends the use of System DSNs, because they are more flexible to administer and use.
ODBC connectivity to CIS is important for many of our customers. It is the most convenient option for connecting to CIS from Excel and other Microsoft-centric projects. In addition, ODBC may be central to the data access architecture of some enterprises.
Thank you.

18. TOMORROW starts here.