ODBC System DSN Questions

We are running an SBS2000 network with around 40 clients being 60% Windows
2000 Pro and 40% WinXP Pro. We have around 3 member servers (not DC) and one
of the servers is a SQL server running SQL 2000.
A user on the domain has created a dBasev5.7 form that needs an ODBC System
DSN connection from the client to the SQL server in order for his form to be
populated with data. He wanted to roll out the DSNs to all the machines on
the network via Group Policy - I did a bit of digging around in the
Newsgroups and someone suggested this automated way by running a vbs script:
http://www.databasejournal.com/featu...e.php/2238221. Although
this works - we have a slight problem. We have no idea if this is to do with
dBase (it uses 16-bit architecture) but when we roll out the DSNs using the
script the registry gets updated (HKEYLOCAL
MACHINE>SOFTWARE>ODBC>ODBC.INI...) with all the right keys (as if you set it
up manually in Control Panel's ODBC) but we need to go through the System DSN
wizard (to the last page of the wizard) and click the "Test connection"
button in order for the dBase program to access the ODBC database connection.
It seems as if the ODBC System DSN is dead without clicking the "Test
Connection" button.
Questions:
1. Is it a requirement to hit the Test Network Connection button on the
last page of the wizard. I thought that this was only for troubleshooting?
2. It appears that this "Test Connection" button in the wizard posts a
registry key to allow the ODBC SYstem DSN (it has created) to be used. Where
abouts is this registry key?
3. Is there a Group Policy way of doing this? Chances are we may change
settings in the future and may want a server-side script running to update
any changes to clients automatically.
Please help.
THanks,
Skc
I am not usre why this is happening, but I can tell you that the Test
Connection button does not write a registry entry anywhere. It is just used
for testing the connection. Possibly teh script leaves something out that
is necessary and going through the wizard completes the process.
It is possible that an alias to the SQL Server is geing created when the
wizard is accessed. There is a cliconfg tuiltiy that you can use to verify
this.
Run the script on a client machine and then run cliconfg from Start - Run.
Check the alias tab to see if there is an alias to this SQL Server. If not,
then run the Wizard and go through the steps. After it completes go back to
cliconfg and see if there is an alias. In many case the cliconfg utility
will create an alias or a SQL Server when a DSN has been created.
Rand
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