ODBC access requests
Open Database Connectivity, or ODBC, is an open standard method of accessing data from a database. BMC will provide read-only ODBC access to your BMC Helix databases upon request. To request access, you must provide the required information detailed below, and submit a request through your support portal. Select Lifecycle Request in Support Central > Case Management and submit a ODBC Access Request case.
Required information
For any ODBC access request, the following table details the information to be provided by each party:
If you are pulling data from an on premises database, you need you provide to BMC: | |
|---|---|
Use case(s) | BMC needs to understand your use case(s) for requiring direct database access. This will help us determine if an alternate process is more suitable to what you're trying to accomplish. |
Environments | You need to indicate which environment(s) require ODBC connectivity, for example, development and production, or production only. |
ODBC login ID | If a have specific requirements for the service account's login ID used to access the database, let us know your preferred name. If you have no preference, BMC will provide one for you. |
Server IP address or hostname | Provide the IP address or hostname of the on premises server that will be used to connect to the BMC Helix database. |
Contact names and emails | Include the name and emails of any other contacts who will be involved in the implementation or testing of the ODBC connectivity. These contact(s) will be included on all communication from BMC, including notification of the login ID and password credentials. |
BMC Client Gateway configuration file | You need to provide a copy of your kwic-config.xml to BMC. |
If you are pulling data from a BMC-hosted database, BMC will provide to you: | |
Database name | BMC will provide the names for the requested database servers. |
ODBC login ID and password | BMC will either use the name you requested or provide a login ID using its standard naming convention, along with the password for the ODBC account. There will be a unique pair for each environment. |
Connection IP address | BMC will provide you with the connection server's IP address in the Client Gateway configuration file. |
ODBC port number | BMC will provide to you ODBC standard port numbers for each environment in the Client Gateway configuration file. |
Access rights
Before access is granted, BMC requires the customer to review and acknowledge the following risks associated with an ODBC account:
- The customer understands and accepts the security risk associated with opening the firewall ports.
- The customer is responsible for any negative impact imposed on the system by the ODBC queries, including but not limited to, any effect on system performance if querying large amounts of data.
- The customer will not misuse the ODBC access credentials or share them with anyone outside of their organization.
- The customer understands that BMC's systems are on shared infrastructure and therefore will take extreme caution while connected to the database.
Configuring your ODBC data source
The data you will be accessing needs an interpreter (driver) which understands the format of the stored data, and a connection manager that determines how the connection needs to be made. This information is stored in a data source. The purpose of the data source is to gather the technical information needed to access the data – the driver name, network address, network software, and so on – into a single place and make the data access transparent to the user. To configure this data source, see How To Set up a Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Data Source. You will need some of the information detailed above prior to configuration.
Once you have your ODBC data source configured, BMC will work with you to validate that the connectivity between the two servers is working as designed. The design and implementation of all data queries is the responsibility of the customer.