SAP Sybase IQ and ODBC (Linux/UNIX)

Connecting to SAP Sybase’s IQ server shouldn’t be scary but the documentation leaves a lot to be desired. Log on to your favorite Linux or Unix box and make sure you source the IQ.sh file wherever you installed the software.

Let’s use the following hypothetical server:

IQ Server:  MyIQboxOfDoom
Port:  5000
Hostname: myiqboxofdoom

If you want a single odbc.ini file for all users, you’ll need to create the file and store it somewhere. Make sure you set the ODBCINI environment variable somewhere (NOT the IQ.sh file as it will but overwritten anytime you patch IQ) to the file. For example: export ODBCINI=/opt/databases/odbc.ini

If you want each user to have their own odbc.ini file, they will need to create the file named as ${HOME}/.odbc.ini The format will be the same as odbc.ini
odbc.ini / .odbc.ini contents:

[MyIQboxOfDoom]
CommLinks=tcpip(ip=myiqboxofdoom;port=5000;DOBROADCAST=NONE;VERIFY=NO)
AutoStop=no

Connecting is a simple matter of:

dbisql -c "dsn=MyIQboxOfDoom;uid=myuser;pwd=mypass" -nogui

Of course you could embed the user in the odbc.ini file like so:

[MyIQboxOfDoom]
CommLinks=tcpip(ip=myiqboxofdoom;port=5000;DOBROADCAST=NONE;VERIFY=NO)
AutoStop=no
uid=myuser