External Database Access

The ESP Server accesses external databases by using database services defined in the service.xml configuration file.

For the Server to communicate with external databases, you must:

Have a working JDBC, ODBC, or Open Client™ connection with the appropriate JDBC, ODBC, or OCS driver for the desired external database installed.
Specify service definitions in the service.xml file for your desired database connections.

Adapter	Supported Drivers	Supported Databases
Adaptive Server® Enterprise Output Adapter	Open Client™	Adaptive Server Enterprise
Database Input and Output Adapters	JDBC	Adaptive Server Enterprise IBM DB2 Oracle Kx Systems KDB+ Microsoft SQL Server SAP HANA®
Database Input and Output Adapters	ODBC	Adaptive Server Enterprise Sybase IQ SQL Anywhere® IBM DB2 Oracle Microsoft SQL Server TimesTen MySQL 5.x PostgreSQL SAP HANA
SAP HANA Adapter	ODBC	SAP HANA
Sybase IQ	ODBC	Sybase IQ

On UNIX systems, SAP recommends upgrading to version 2.3.0 or later of unixODBC. If you are using a version lower than 2.3.0, set a parameter for the driver that instructs the database manager not to synchronize database access. To do this, add a line that says “Threading = 0” for your driver in the odbcinst.ini file.

If you are running the SAP HANA Output adapter on a UNIX system, use only unixODBC 2.3.0 or higher.

If you are using version 2.3.0, add “Threading=0” in the odbcinst.ini file to ensure optimal adapter performance.
If you are using version 2.3.1, create a symbolic link under <2.3.1 installation folder>/lib as follows:
```
ln -s libodbc.so.2.0.0 libodbc.so.1
```
This link is required because ESP links to libodbc.so.1, which unixODBC 2.3.1 has renamed libodbc.so.2. With the link, ESP will now use libodbc.so.2.

Configure Connections to External Databases
Use the service.xml file to store service definition that store connection properties required for a database connection.
Linking to Your ODBC Driver Manager Library
To successfully use an ODBC driver manager library on UNIX systems, link to your ODBC driver manager library and include this link in LD_LIBRARY_PATH for the ESP Server.

Parent topic: Get Started with a Cluster

Previous topic: Deploying a Project to a Cluster