SQL/R ODBC A.03.09 Release Notes for Windows

Welcome to the SQL/R A.03.09 version for the Windows platform.

SQL/R A.03.xx supported platforms:

In addition to the Eloquence database since version A.06.xx, the Eloquence database version A.05.xx is supported on the HP-UX PA-RISC platform.

ODBC drivers are available for the Windows, Linux and HP-UX platforms.

Contents


1. New functionality and known issues

Limitations

Fixed Problems / Changes

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.09:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.08:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.07:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.06:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.05:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.04:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.03:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.02:

Changes in SQL/R version A.03.01:


2. SQL/R ODBC Server Configuration

In order to run properly, the SQL/R ODBC Server must be configured prior to its first usage. The following steps should be taken and are described below:


2a. Registering the SQL/R ODBC Server with Windows

The SQL/R ODBC Server is installed as a Windows service. During the installation process the sqlrodbcd.exe executable is installed in the Windows system directory (C:\Windows\System32). In addition, it is automatically registered with the Windows Service Control Manager.

In order to manually register the SQL/R ODBC Server with the Windows Service Control Manager you must execute sqlrodbcd.exe with the -install argument:

  1. Log on as Administrator.

  2. Open a Command Prompt window.

  3. Execute the command: sqlrodbcd -install
    This makes the SQL/R ODBC Server available to the Windows Service Control Manager. The service name is "SQLRODBC".

To unregister, use the command: sqlrodbcd -remove
Please make sure you unregister the SQL/R ODBC Server before you uninstall the SQL/R software.


2b. Configuring your System

For SQL/R, the installation program adds the following default TCP service to your local SERVICES file:

   #
   # SQL/R related services
   #
   sqlrodbc        8003/tcp    # SQL/R ODBC

where the first column specifies the service name ("sqlrodbc") and the second column the associated port number and protocol ("8003/tcp"). The installation program takes care that the selected port number is not already used otherwise.

In rare cases it might be necessary to modify this preset configuration, for example if the port number does not match the one configured on other systems.

The location of your SERVICES file depends on your Windows version:


2c. Configuring the SQL/R ODBC Server

The SQL/R ODBC Server is configured by editing the odbc.cfg, odbc.user and odbc.dsn configuration files. They are located in the SQL/R configuration directory. All configuration files provide complete inline documentation.

The location of the SQL/R configuration directory depends on where SQL/R has been installed. All SQL/R configuration files are installed in the etc subdirectory of the SQL/R installation directory. This is usually C:\Programs\Marxmeier\SQLR\etc.

Each configuration file is responsible for a specific part of the SQL/R ODBC Server configuration:

odbc.cfg This is the general server configuration file.
odbc.user In this file all users are defined who are allowed to access the ODBC server.
odbc.dsn This file defines all accessible data sources on the server.


2d. Configuring the SQL/R ODBC Server startup

After the SQL/R ODBC Server has been registered with the Windows Service Control Manager it can be accessed using the Services applet.

Windows XP:

Windows 2000:

Windows NT:

Locate the SQLRODBC entry in the list and select it with the mouse. On Windows XP/2000, open the Properties dialog, either from the menu or using the context menu (right mouse button). On Windows NT, click the Startup... button to open the Startup Options dialog:

When you have setup the Startup Options, you can define additional arguments for the SQL/R ODBC Server as an option. This is usually not required since all settings are normally provided in the odbc.cfg configuration file. However this can be used for tracking down problems (e.g. starting the SQL/R ODBC Server temporarily with different log options).

Possible arguments are:

   -d flags = log flags (debug mode)
   -l name  = log file name
   -s name  = service name
   -h name  = http service name
Option Description Equiv.*
­d flags Specifies the server debugging log flags. LogFlags
­l name Specifies the server log file. LogFile
­s name The service name (as defined in the SERVICES file) or the port number where the server should listen for requests. The default value is sqlrodbc. Service
­h name If you want to make use of the HTTP status diplay feature of the server, use this option to specify the service name or port number where the server should listen for HTTP requests. HttpService
(* equivalent configuration file directive)

For example, if you wish to specify a different TCP service name (the default is "sqlrodbc"), you could enter the following into the Startup Parameters field:

   -save -s 8567
This will make the SQL/R ODBC Server listen to the TCP/IP port number 8567. The leading -save argument makes this command line persistent, so that the same arguments are used each time the SQL/R ODBC Server is started. If you do not specify the -save argument this command line will be used only once.

If you want to make sure that the command line is empty and that any persistent command line is deleted, just specify -save without any additional arguments.

At this point, everything is configured and the SQL/R ODBC Server can be started:

If you did not specify a log file, the SQL/R ODBC Server will write log messages to the Windows Event Log. In case the SQL/R ODBC Server does not start the Event Log will probably contain an error message pointing out the cause of the problem. You should also periodically check the Event Log in order to get aware of possible configuration problems.

Windows XP:

Windows 2000:

Windows NT:

Having started the SQL/R ODBC Server for the first time after installation, the Application Log should already contain a few entries noting that the SQL/R ODBC Server was successfully installed and started.


2e. Controlling the SQL/R ODBC Server from the command line

The net start and net stop system commands can be used to start and stop the SQL/R ODBC Server from the command line. This is equivalent to starting and stopping the server using the Windows Services applet as explained in the previous section.

Command syntax:

   net start SQLRODBC
   net stop SQLRODBC


2f. The SQL/R ODBC Server HTTP status display

When the HttpService is defined in the odbc.cfg configuration file, you can use a WEB browser such as Mozilla, Netscape or Internet Explorer to view the configuration and state of the SQL/R ODBC Server process in your network.

To access the SQL/R ODBC Server, you provide an URL like this:

   http://server:port/

where server is the host name or IP number of the system running the SQL/R ODBC Server and port is the port number used for HttpService in the odbc.cfg file.


3. Additional information

Additional information on SQL/R is available on the Internet.

Please refer to the URL http://www.marxmeier.com/sqlr. The previous SQL/R ODBC documentation is available in PDF format on the SQL/R web page.


4. SQL/R example database

SQL/R ODBC includes a sample database. It must be created manually. The SQL/R sample database is available with English or German table and item names.

First, the sample database should be installed in an Eloquence eloqdb6 database environment which must be already setup and running.

The following instructions install the SQL/R sample database in your default eloqdb6 server:

   schema -u dba db.schema
   dbcreate -u dba db
   dbimport -u public -vs db.exp db

Notes:

Next, adjust the odbc.dsn configuration file as below.

For the English version:

  [SQL/R Example]
  Database=localhost:eloqdb/db
  Repository=C:/Programs/Marxmeier/SQLR/share/db.e/db.rep

For the German version:

  [SQL/R Example]
  Database=localhost:eloqdb/db
  Repository=C:/Programs/Marxmeier/SQLR/share/db.g/db.rep


© 2000-2013 Marxmeier Software AG, Germany
Revision: 2013-10-11