APPX ODBC Installations Instructions

This page provides instructions for installing APPX ODBC 5.


Overview

APPX ODBC is used by APPX customers to gain access to APPX data from external products, such as Crystal Reports or Excel. Installation of APPX ODBC 5 is accomplished by simply following the steps outlined below. APPX ODBC 5 is a Windows only product for now.

APPX ODBC 5 is a new product compared to earlier versions of APPX ODBC. There is no upgrade, just uninstall the older version prior to installing the new version.


AppxODBC requires 3 components to work now. The Appx FMS Server, The Appx ODBC Data Gateway, and the Appx ODBC Driver. The Appx FMS server should already be installed and running. Step 2 is to install the Appx ODBC Data Gateway, then the Appx ODBC Driver + ASQL. Run ASQL to import Apppx dictionaries. Then on non-admin PCs install the Appx ODBC Driver (minus ASQL). Here's what each installer does do...

AppxODBCserver_5_0_2_windows.exe

This will install the "Appx ODBC Data Gateway Service" and supporting files. This service runs listening on TCP port 1990 for connections from the Appx ODBC Driver installed on someone's desktop. The Data Gateway contains one or more database directories each with it's own schemas imported via ASQL and each having its own appx.env file that tells it the host and port of the Appx FMS Server for that database. By default the installer creates a default database called "appx". This creates a directory tree in the server install directory called "appx.dbs". That directory contains all the schema files for database "appx" as well as its appx.env file.

When a connection request is received from a desktop driver it takes the database from the request, "appx" by default, reads the appx.env file, and attempts to start up an FMS connection to that Appx host using the login and password received from the desktop driver. If authentication is successful then it starts brokering SQL requests from the driver to the FMS server. You have a new Data Gateway task for each driver connection. Each Data Gateway task creates its own FMS connection to the Appx server.

The installer should create everything needed in the way of the "appx" database, the appx.env file, and configure and start the service task. Upon completion of the installer the Appx ODBC Data Gateway should be ready for connections. This installer does not install an Appx ODBC driver or ASQL application. Nothing on this server is visibly runnable other than you can see that the service is running and you can look at the appx.env file to see that it looks right.

AppxODBCdriver_5_0_2_windows.exe

This will install the desktop Appx ODBC Driver. This is what WinSQL and other desktop application will use to connect to the Appx ODBC Data Gateway. During the install it will create a default System DSN using the driver and setting up the DSN to properly connect to the Appx ODBC Data Gateway. Once this installer is done the driver should be installed and there should be a functioning System DSN you can use to request data. That can't happen until ASQL has been run to import Appx data dictionaries into the Data Gateway database schemas. ASQL is not included in this installer for security reasons. When you use the driver to get data the user and password you use is your Appx user and password for the Appx server on the back end of the FMS connection between the Appx ODBC Data Gateway and the Appx FMS server.

AppxODBCdriver+ASQL_5_0_2_windows.exe

This is the same as the other driver installer except that it does include ASQL. This is what administrators will install when they will be manipulating the Data Gateway schemas and importing Appx dictionaries.

Disclaimer

APPX ODBC 5 includes many new features and bug fixes. As always, before upgrading your APPX production system, you are strongly encouraged to install APPX ODBC 5 into a test environment where you can verify the compatibility of your applications. APPX ODBC 5 has been thoroughly tested but, because of the complexity of computer software, there will certainly be bugs and some ODBC clients that will not be able to connect to the ODBC server. Consequently, there is no guarantee that your applications will be completely compatible with this significant new release. It is your responsibility to test your applications to ensure that they are compatible with this new release of APPX ODBC and to make any changes that may be necessary to maintain compatibility. Finally, before upgrading your production system, make a backup of your applications and your data. Your computer software and your data are important assets of your organization. Please be prudent and take the steps needed to protect this important investment.

Known Issues:

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APPX ODBC Server and Driver Installation Instructions

Windows Server/XP/Vista/Win 7

New Installation

We're going to install APPX ODBC Server on a Windows Server 2008 64 bit. APPX 5.0.2 is already installed on a Windows Server 2003 32 bit server and configured to listen on TCP port 8063. You should keep the versions the same between APPX ODBC and APPX Server, otherwise you could end up with performance issues or failure to connect errors. APPX ODBC Server listens on TCP port 1990. Let's make sure that that TCP port is available with the OS netstat command line tool.

Verify TCP Port 1990 is open via Netstat Command

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The image above demonstrates using the Windows OS commands netstat and findstr to search for TCP port 1990. As you can see nothing was returned, so we can be sure that the port is available.

Download and run the APPX ODBC Server installation file.

Let's download the APPX ODBC Server and start the installation.

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Execute the AppxODBCserver _5_0_2_windows.exe installation file shown in the image above.

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Click Next on the APPX ODBC installation welcome screen.

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The APPX ODBC server is a 32bit application. It will install by default to either C:\Program Files\AppxODBC Server\ if you are installing it on a 32 bit version of Windows, or C:|Program Files (x86)\AppxODBC Server\ if you are installing onto a 64 bit version of Windows.

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You can accept the default Start Menu Folder name of AppxODBC Server.

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In the image above, you can see the ODBC Server prompting for the TCP port that your APPX Server's appxLoginMgr is configured to listen on. This can be APPX on any platform (Windows, Linux, HPUX, IBM AIX, Sun Sparc based Solaris) with the same version of APPX as the AppxODBC that you are installing now.

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The image above shows that I'm instructing AppxODBC to point to the APPX server named hankwilliams.internal.appx.com on TCP port 8060.

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AppxODBC server installation is complete.

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The image above demonstrates the use of OS commands tasklist, findstr and netstat to verify that the AppxODBC server process is indeed running and listening on TCP port number 1990.

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In the image above, you can see the service "Appx ODBC Data Gateway Service" in the OS Services panel. Notice that the Startup Type is set to Automatic, and the Status is Started.

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As you can see in the image above, the tool placed an uninstall option in the just created AppxODBC menu group.

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The directory listing above shows some of the files that are created in the AppxODBC Server directory structure. Notice the executable in the bin subdirectory, the appx.dbs subdirectory and the appx.env file inside appx.dbs. appx.dbs is the directory created for the default DSN database named appx. The configuration information for TCP port number of APPX and the APPX Server name is contained in the appx.env file.

C:\Program Files (x86)\AppxODBC Server>more appx.dbs\appx.env

APPX_DATA_SERVER=hankwilliams.internal.appx.com:8060

C:\Program Files (x86)\AppxODBC Server>

The contents of the appx.env file is displayed above.

Download and run the AppxODBC driver and ASQL data importer.

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With AppxODBC 5.0.2 we've seperated the ODBC driver from the data importer. You may wish to put the APPX Server, AppxODBC server and AppxODBC driver and ASQL all on one machine. Then put just the AppxODBCdriver on each client's desktop that needs to access APPX from an application such as Microsoft Excel. If the AppxODBC user is an APPX developer, it might be desirable to have the AppxODBC driver and ASQL importer on the same desktop as the ODBC client client application (Excel, Crystal Reports, etc...). For this example I am keeping all AppxODBC components on a single machine, with the APPX Server on a separate machine. Your configuration could demand each component be installed on a separate machine.
I'm going to execute the AppxODBCdriver+ASQL_5_0_2_windows.exe to begin the installation of the driver and ASQL importer.

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Click Next when the AppxODBC driver/ASQL installation welcome screen is presented to you.

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ASQL data is created by the user at runtime. You should install AppxODBC in a directory that the user has write access to. A good choice is C:\Appx\AppxODBC Driver\. This will prevent write access problems for OS configurations that prevent users writting to C:\Program Files\ or C:\Program Files (x86)\ directories.

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Accept the default name for the Windows Start Menu program group for AppxODBC driver.

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AppxODBC driver needs to know the location of the AppxODBC server.

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In the image above, I'm specifying localhost because my AppxODBC server is the same machine as the AppxODBC driver/ASQL machine. Click Next.

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The installer should report that the AppxODBC data source has been created. Click OK.

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You have completed the installation of AppxODBC driver and ASQL components. You should now run ASQL to begin the data structure import.

Importing APPX data structure via the AppxODBC ASQL tool.

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Running ASQL, you are first prompted for a Data Source Name (aka DSN), and a user name and password to log into APPX with. Optionally you can enter a Database ID and Applicaiton ID.

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In the image above, I'm using the default created DSN named AppxODBC, and I've specified an APPX user name and password. I am going to leave Database ID and Application ID empty and will browse via the data selector after I log in.

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-- JoeOrtagus - 2010-04-05


This topic: Main > APPX500 > APPXODBCInstallationInstructions
Topic revision: r17 - 2010-06-26 - JoeOrtagus
 
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