Abante Progression ODBC Setup Reference
Manual
© 1999 Abante Systems, Inc.
Abante Progression,
Abante Systems, and WIBN are trademarks of Abante Systems, Inc.
Setting up Data
Source Names10
Applying the Data
Source Name to Multiple Clients14
Preparing Clients to run Progression17
Setting up the Server
This document will take you through the steps necessary to get Progression working with an ODBC database server. This guide will focus on Microsoft SQL Server 7.0, but similar steps can be taken with other ODBC database servers.
Creating the Database
The first step is to create a new database. Open SQL Server Enterprise Manager, click down through the tree and select your server’s Databases node. Right click on that and select the New Databases…menu item.
Now you need to give your database a name. In this example the name Progression has been picked. An initial size for the database must also be chosen. 50 megabytes is a good size to start with. Click OK and SQL Server will create the database.
Once the database has been created, the database structure now has to
be created. This includes the creation
all the tables, fields, and indexes that Progression needs to work. Start the SQL Server Query Analyzer (also
known as ISQLW) and select the database that you created in the previous
step. In the example above you can see
that the database Progression has
been chosen.
Once the database has been selected the database creation script needs to opened and run. This script is on your Progression installation CD. It can be found on the CD at:
{CD Drive Name}:\Program\Tbodbc\dbcreate.zip
A password will be needed to extract this file from the zip file. If you don’t have a program such as WinZip installed, WinZip can be found in the 3rdParty directory on your installation CD. The password to extract the dbcreate.sql file should have been given to you with your license information. If you cannot find this password, please contact Abante Systems technical support.
Select the dbcreate.sql script, and click on Open to open the file.
Once the dbcreate.sql script has been opened the script needs to be run. Type your F5 function key or press the green (play) arrow on the toolbar to run the script. Depending on the speed of your server, this operation will take around one minute.
Accessing the Database
There are three options for enabling user access to the database. The first option is to create specific user names in the database for each one of your users. The second option is to use a shared login. The third option would be to rely on NT Server to control access. The strengths and weaknesses of each of these approaches will be discussed.
User Names for every User
If you don’t already log into an NT Server this option is a good bet. However this approach is also the most work. Create a new login for each one of your users using the steps below.
Browse the Enterprise Manager tree and find the item called Logins. Right click on this item and select the New Login menu item.
Enter a name for your login, select SQL Server authentication, type in a password, and set the default database to the database that you created.
Switch to the Database Access tab, click on the check box next to the name of the database you created, and then scroll down in the Database roles list box and click on the check box next to the items db_datareader and db_datawriter. This step is very important otherwise the user will not be able to use the database.
Click on the OK button, confirm the password, click on the OK button, and repeat this process for all your users.
Once all the logins have been created, consult the Abante Network Assistant documentation to look for information on using the Use user supplied user id and password configuration option. This option will tell the Progression Toolbox to use the user name and password (which will be the same as you’ve configured for SQL Server) as the credentials to use to connect to SQL Server.
You should keep in mind that each login has to be enumerated separately with a separate SQL Server login. This results in extra work and extra database administration.
One effect of using this method is that valid users can have direct access to Progression’s tables using third party programs. If it is very important that users not have access to other users data, this method should not be used. The Shared Login method is the preferred method.
Shared Login
If you don’t already log into an NT Server this option is the easiest to set up and is the most secure against attacks. Follow the process outlined in the ‘User Names for every User’ section to create one user on the SQL Server that has access to the database that you created. All of your users will then use these credentials to connect to the SQL Server. They still log in to Progression Toolbox itself using a separate user name and password so they can only access their own data, but they will connect to the server using one login.
Consult the Abante Network Assistant documentation to look for information on using the Encrypt connection string option to make sure that users cannot view the password of the SQL Server login you’ve created.
NT Server Login
If your users already log into an NT Server, this option is easy to set up.
Using this method you can create a name for the login as a NT
Group. If somebody is removed from the
group, you don't have to change anything in SQL Server to prevent them from
gaining access.
SQL Server 7.0 uses your Windows NT credentials directly, without an additional mapping layer. This means you spend less time in security administration and have less room for error.
One effect of using this method is that valid users can have direct access to Progression’s tables using third party programs. If it is very important that users not have access to other users data, this method should not be used. The Shared Login method is the preferred method.
Setting up the Client
Once the server has been set up, its now time to set up your client machines. The bulk of this work is setting up the Data Source Names (DSNs).
Data Source Names
Data Source Names (DSNs) are the names by which clients refer to specific databases on a specific server.
DSN connection strings are formed by three parts, the DSN itself, the user id, and the password. An example of a connection string is:
DSN=ProgressionServer;UID=UserID;PWD=Password
In the example above, ProgressionServer is the name of the DSN as it appears in the ODBC Control Panel. UserID is the User ID of a valid database user, and Password is the password of that user.
If the Progression Network Assistant Use user supplied user id and password setting is checked, the connection string only has to name the DSN. For example it should look like:
DSN=ProgressionServer
Setting up Data Source Names
The way Windows works with ODBC is that ODBC sources are typically set up in the Windows control panel. The main thing needed to get a program such as Progression to work with a server ODBC system is to setup these sources.
In the screen shot you can see that an ODBC source “eeyore” has been setup and is defined as a SQL Server ODBC type. The ODBC type is the driver that the system uses to communicate with the server. In this case, eeyore is a separate computer running the Linux operating system using a Sybase database. The SQL Server driver works because SQL Server is a derivative of Sybase. The Progression DSN in this case is connected to an Oracle Server.
To create a new DSN, make sure that the System DSN tab is selected and click on the Add… button
For the driver selection, click on the SQL Server driver and click on the Finish button.
Give your data source a name, give it a description if you wish, and select your server from the drop down box. In some cases, your server may not appear so type in the server name if you don’t see your server listed.
Click on the Next button to continue.
To complete the next step, you will need to refer to what you did when you set up the database. If you decided to go the NT login/authentication route, pick that option. If you didn’t pick the SQL Server authentication instead. If you are using SQL Server authentication, type in a user name that has access to the database and type in your password.
In some cases if you have problems completing the final steps in the DSN creation, you will need to change the client configuration. Named Pipes and TCP/IP are good choices. If one doesn’t work, try the other. Default settings here are usually okay.
Click on the Next button to continue. If after clicking on the Next button an error message pops up, make sure you have entered a valid user name (login id) and password. You may need to also change the client configuration.
If you have set up your server correctly, the default database will be okay. If the database listed in the grayed out drop down box is not correct, click on the check box above it to enable the drop down box and then select your database. Click on the Next button to continue.
In most cases the defaults on this page are okay.
Click on the Finish button to continue.
The data source creation is almost complete. Click on the Test Data Source button to test the data source. If it tests okay, click on the OK button to continue.
Applying the Data Source Name to Multiple Clients
Once the DSN has been created on one machine, there are two ways of setting up all the other machines on your network. You can visit each machine manually and repeat the above process (not a whole lot of fun), or do something else.
There is another option. Windows stores all this DSN information in the Windows registry. By using the RegEdit program that comes with Windows its possible to export the data you have set up above and then easily reimport it into all of your other machines.
Start up the registry editor (you can start it from the run command on your Start menu by running the program RegEdit) and browsing to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE.
Once there find the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC and click on it.
Click on the Registry menu and select the Export Registry File menu item.
Type in a file name (save it to a location where you can find it later, preferably to a network location that can be seen by all of your client machines), and click on the Save button.
As you can see in the example, the registry file that I’ve saved is here.
Once this is done you have two choices. You can still visit each of your client machines or execute this registry file in a start-up script.
If you want to visit all of your machines, just double click on the registry file from each machine. You’ll know the information has been successfully entered by seeing the above message.
Preparing Clients to run Progression
Progression Toolbox requires ODBC drivers to be installed on all client machines. ODBC drivers can be downloaded from your server vendor. Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 drivers are included on this CD.
Depending on your client operating system you may need to run dcom95.exe. It can be found on your installation CD at
{CD}:\System\dcom95.exe
You will then need to run mdac_typ.exe. If you haven’t installed dcom95.exe and need to do so, this install will fail. You can then install dcom95 and try again.
{CD}:\System\mdac_typ.exe
Running Progression Toolbox
You can now run Progression Toolbox. To test the installation, enter a user name of “Administrator” and a password of “Progression”. These are case sensitive. Make sure that the Server Database tab is selected and enter your DSN information. Please see the earlier section in this manual entitled Data Source Names for more information about the connection string.
Assuming everything has been correctly entered, click the OK button, and Progression will log you in.
Technical Support
Contact Abante Systems by emailing support@abante.com, calling 616-257-8560, calling toll free 877-222-3550, or sending postal mail to:
Abante Systems, INC.
1473 Trentwood
Wyoming, MI 49509.