ODBC Data Source Administrator Dialog

Use the User DSN tab to add, delete, and configure user data sources. Existing user data sources are listed in the User Data Sources area. User data sources are visible only to the user who creates them and only on the computer on which they are created.

• Add: Starts the Create New Data Source wizard, with which you select and configure the driver that you want to use to set up the data source.

• Remove: Removes the currently selected user data source.

• Configure: Opens the setup dialog that is relevant to the currently selected user data source.

Use the System DSN tab to add, delete, and configure system data sources. Existing system data sources are listed in the System Data Sources area. These data sources are local to a computer rather than dedicated to a user. The system, or any user who has privileges, can use a data source that is configured to have a system DSN.

• Add: Starts the Create New Data Source wizard, with which you select and configure the driver that you want to use to set up the data source.

• Remove: Removes the currently selected system data source.

• Configure: Opens the setup dialog that is relevant to the currently selected system data source.

Use the File DSN tab to add, delete, and configure file data sources. Existing file data sources are listed in the area on the left side of the dialog. These data sources can be shared among all users who have the same ODBC drivers installed; they are not dedicated to a specific user or computer.

• Look in: Displays the directory for which the subdirectories and file DSNs are listed in the area below it. The default directory that is displayed when the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog is first opened is included in the system information, but you can change this by clicking Set Directory.

  Click to replace the directory that is shown in the Look in box with the directory that is located one level up.

• Add: Starts the Create New Data Source wizard, with which you select and configure the driver that you want to use to set up the file data source.

• Remove: Removes the currently selected file data source.

• Configure: Opens the setup dialog that is relevant to the currently selected file data source.

• Set Directory: Sets the currently selected directory as the default when the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog is opened.

The Drivers tab displays information about the installed ODBC drivers. The ODBC Drivers that are installed on your system area shows you which drivers are already installed on your computer. No actions are performed on this tab.

Use the Tracing tab to specify how the ODBC Driver Manager traces calls to ODBC functions. The Driver Manager can trace calls, perform tracing dynamically, or enable tracing to be performed by a custom trace DLL.

When to trace

• Start Tracing Now/Stop Tracing Now: Turns continuous dynamic tracing on or off. Tracing occurs whether or not a connection was made, as long as the ODBC Data Source Administrator dialog box is displayed or until you click Stop Tracing Now.

• Start Visual Studio Analyzer/Stop Visual Studio Analyzer: Turns Visual Studio Analyzer on or off for debugging and analyzing your distributed application.

• Machine-Wide tracing for all user identities: Turns on machine-wide tracing for all user identities. When this option is not selected, per-user tracing is used. You must set this tracing mode before tracing begins and stop current tracing before you change this mode.

Machine-wide tracing should be turned on only when it is needed; otherwise, it should be turned off.

Log File Path

The Log File Path section displays the path and file name where the tracing information is stored. You can use the default path and file name (\sql.log) or specify a new file either by entering a new path and file name or by clicking Browse and then selecting a directory and file.

Custom Trace DLL

The Custom Trace DLL section displays the path and file name for DLL tracing. You can use the default path and file name (Odbctrac.dll) or specify a new file either by entering the path and file name of the custom *.dll or by clicking Select DLL to browse to and then select a directory and file.

Use the Connection Pooling tab to configure the connection retry wait time and connection timeout period for a selected driver when connection pooling is used. You can also use this tab to turn performance monitoring off and on, which records a number of connection statistics.

Connection Pooling Timeout

The Connection Pooling Timeout area shows the connection pooling timeout interval, in seconds, for the selected driver. To modify connection pooling attributes, double-click the driver name to open the Set Connection Pooling Attributes dialog, where you can activate connection pooling and set a time period during which unused connections remain in the pool.

• ODBC Drivers: Lists the name of each installed ODBC driver with its connection pooling timeout option, which you can view by using the horizontal scroll bar. To set the timeout option, double-click the ODBC driver name.

PerfMon

The PerfMon section determines whether performance-monitoring counters for connection pooling are turned on or off. For more information about performance monitoring, refer to the Microsoft ODBC Programmer's Reference.

• Enable: Turns on performance-monitoring counters for connection pooling.

• Disable: Turns off performance-monitoring counters for connection pooling.

Retry Wait Time

The Retry Wait Time section specifies, in seconds and in fewer than six numerals, how long the ODBC Driver Manager waits before making connection retries to a database server.

The About tab displays information about the ODBC core components, including the Driver Manager, the cursor library, the installer .dll, and other files that constitute the core components. No actions are performed on this tab, and clicking Cancel does not undo changes that are made on other tabs.