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Strictly speaking the answer to this question is no. However, if you are accessing MS SQL Server, MS Access etc on a Windows machine the server side of the ODBC-ODBC Bridge installs the Microsoft Driver Manager. In part this is to make the configuration of data sources easier and to allow the ODBC-ODBC Bridge server to pass concern for which ODBC driver to load on to the driver manager.

The client side of the ODBC-ODBC does not need a driver manager as you can link your application directly to it. The client contains much of the driver manager functionality and this is how the ODBC-ODBC Bridge can support multiple versions of the ODBC API. Typical applications/interfaces which are already available on non-Windows platforms are PHP, Perl DBI, DBD:ODBC, mxODBC and Rexx/SQL. When building the ODBC-ODBC Bridge with any of these you do not need a
driver manager. A similar situation exists if you write your own application.

Some applications come with a driver manager e.g. Applixware comes with iODBC. The ODBC-ODBC Bridge will work just as well with a driver manager and it is only required if the application is written to expect and need a driver manager.

If you have multiple ODBC drivers and you want to pick which one you use at run time then you need a driver manager. Easysoft recommend the driver manager incorporated in the unixODBC project which can be found at http://www.unixodbc.org. The OOB distributions for UNIX contain the unixODBC driver manager. Generally speaking it is a more flexible configuration if you use a driver manager.

Applies To

• Products
  • Easysoft ODBC-SQL Server Driver