In the past, you started a DirectConnect server using a command that used the direct executable itself. Although this method is still supported, it has some limitations.
For example, the command, direct –Ssrvname, was the standard way to start an existing DirectConnect server. For this command to work, you must properly set all of the appropriate environment variables before the command is executed. Also, if multiple installations of DirectConnect exist on a single machine, each installation needs its own environment.
To ease the use of this process, Sybase provides a batch file with ECDA that sets the installation-specific variables before executing the direct –Ssrvname command. This script, called DCStart, requires that all the non-Sybase variables be set properly, and ensures that the environment variables that are specific to a ECDA installation are all correctly set.