We need to connect to MS Access (various versions: 97/2000/2003) from AIX
machine via ODBC. Any suggestions on the best driver to use?
The above suggests that you can find a JET ODBC driver that runs on your
UNIX (or AIX) box. There is no such driver.
While a mdb file supports a JET odbc connection, in fact you have to run the
JET engine to use ODBC. Remember, a JET file is in fact a simple plain
windows file. You can't connect to a word file via odbc, or even connect to
a
Excel file via ODBC. So, we are talking about the ability to open a simple
files that is part of office. A file is a file is a file.
So, Word, or Excel, or in your case JET mdb files cannot accept a socket
connections. This is due to the fact that you don't need to install any
software on the "server" to open a word file, or in your case a mdb file.
These are simply files to the OS..and you can't convince windows to open a
word file via ODBC anymore then you can open a mdb JET file. They simply are
files sitting on the hard disk. You need to use the file system to OPEN this
physical file.
If you were to run a server based data engine such as sql server, then that
engine CAN accept socket connections, and thus your ODBC driver on the Unix
box would not in fact being open the file...but connecting to the database
server. In a file based system such as Excel, or ms-access, you can't
connect to anything..since these systems use windows files...nothing
more...nothing less....
