Welcome

[TomD]

Welcome to the apache.dbd.odbc group.

This group is for discussion, suggestions, and comments about the odbc-
dbd driver.
This group is open to everyone to read, but you will need a Google
username to join the group and post messages.

The home page for odbc-dbd is: http://odbc-dbd.googlecode.com

The project owner is me - Tom Donovan - Thomas....@google.com

If you're new to all this - here are some Q&A's which may help you
make sense of the acronym soup: DBD, APR, ODBC...

Q: What is DBD?

A: APR (the Apache Portable Runtime http://apr.apache.org/) version
1.2 provides a framework and an API (application-program-interface)
for accessing SQL databases in a (somewhat) database-independent
fashion. The name for this framework and API is "DBD".

Q: How is this connected to the Apache Web Server?

A: The Apache web server version 2.2 uses APR 1.2 - so this DBD
framework brings SQL database access to the Apache web server,
something Apache never had before. It lets Apache modules make SQL
queries for things like:

* User authentication - via the Apache mod_authn_dbd module ( this is
dupplied with the Apache Web Server, which is available at http://httpd.apache.org
)

* Access Logging - via the mod_log_dbd module ( at: http://dbd-modules.googlecode.com
)

* Virtual Host document root selection - via the mod_vhost_dbd ( at:
http://dbd-modules.googlecode.com )

The Apache httpd web server project already provides drivers for
MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite which can be compiled into Apache on
Unix systems. Unfortunately - not for Windows Apache users yet, and
not for any other databases (although it looks like there will be an
Oracle driver in Apache 2.3+).

Q: What is odbc-dbd?

A: odbc-dbd is a DBD driver for connecting to ODBC. It lets Apache
(and any other software which is built from APR) connect to any
database that supports ODBC - both on Windows and Unix platforms.

Q: Why is ODBC useful with Apache?

A: Almost all databases provide ODBC drivers for both Windows and
Unix. MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, Sybase, Informix,
etc. all provide ODBC drivers. Windows systems always have an ODBC
manager installed, and contain built-in drivers for Microsoft products
- like SQL Server and Microsoft Access.

There are even commercial ODBC driver vendors. An example is
DataDirect http://www.datadirect.com/products/odbc who sell and
support a set of ODBC drivers for many databases on quite a few
platforms.

ODBC is often associated with Microsoft Windows. Not everyone realizes
that ODBC is also available on Unix as well. There are several ODBC
managers available - the two most common are "UnixODBC" (http://
www.unixodbc.org) and "iODBC" (http://www.iodbc.org) . Many (most?)
Linux distributions have packages available for one or both of these
ODBC managers, and most database vendors provide Windows and Unix ODBC
drivers for their products.

Q: What is an ODBC manager? What is an ODBC driver? and how does
odbc-dbd fit in?

A: Using ODBC always requires an ODBC manager for your operating
system, and an ODBC driver from your database vendor. Normally,
Apache cannot "talk" to either of these pieces of software. odbc-dbd
is an Apache/APR DBD driver. odbc-dbd allows the Apache/APR DBD
framework to work with ODBC so Apache can use any database you have an
ODBC driver for.

Q: Is odbc-dbd only for Apache?

A: No - other projects besides the Apache web server use the APR to
build platform-independent software. If you do this, then DBD (and
odbc-dbd) is available for your software to use as well.

-tom-