Howto connect MySQL PostgreSQL server to Microsoft Office Application using ODBC

Learn how to connect Microsoft application such as Excel and other to MySQL and PostgreSQL database server running on Linux. This is an excellent information / howto.

In cases where business applications have been built on open source databases, it may be necessary to connect other Windows applications, such as Microsoft Access or Excel, to these databases for reporting or business intelligence purposes.

One potential application of this process is to use Excel as a front-end for data analysis. Data can be pulled from views or tables and then further analyzed, graphed, and the like. Even pivot tables can be used to create even more powerful reporting solutions.

This how-to walks through this process using Excel as an example application. Although in this example, the MySQL and PostgreSQL servers are running on Linux, the steps are no different if the software is running on Windows. These steps are:
1. Setting up authentication
2. Installing the ODBC Drivers
3. Configuring the data source
4. Importing the data.

=> Connecting Office Applications to MySQL and PostgreSQL via ODBC

Canara bank deploys Red Hat Linux on 10,000 desktops

Canara Bank in Bangalore is implementing RHEL over 1000 servers and 10,000 desktops, as part of its total branch computerization project. Canara is one of India’s large majority government-owned banks, The Indian government has taken good decision in favor of open-source :)

Read more here

/etc/resolve.conf or resolv.conf File Example

The resolv.conf file is the resolver configuration file. It is use to configure client side access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). This file defines which name servers to use.

The resolver is a set of routines in the C library that provide access to the Internet Domain Name System (DNS). The resolver configuration file contains information that is read by the resolver routines the first time they are invoked by a process. The file is designed to be human readable and contains a list of keywords with values that provide various types of resolver information

Note: File name is /etc/resolv.conf and not /etc/resolve.conf.

Sample resolv.conf file

Following is an example of resolv.conf file:

search cyberciti.biz
nameserver 202.54.1.10
nameserver 202.54.1.11

Where,

  • search domain.com: The search list is normally determined from the local domain name; by default, it contains only the local domain name. So when you type nslookup www, it will be matched to www.cyberciti.biz
  • nameserver Name-server-IP-address: Point out to your your own nameserver or to ISP’s name server. Up to 3 name servers may be listed.

But how do I edit the /etc/resolv.conf file?

Use text editor such as vi or gedit from Linux desktop:
# vi /etc/resolv.conf

Default /etc/resolv.conf file

Following file should be work with any ISP in the world :)
# cat /etc/resolv.conf
Output:

nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 208.67.222.222

For more information see How to Setup Linux as DNS client.

Microsoft to introduce Dynamics with MS-Office

It is new solution for small and home business under band new name called
Microsoft Dynamics, which tightly integrated with MS-Office. According
to MS it is a simplified version of ERP, SCM and CRP applications. The
idea is to integrate it with Excel and Word so that small and medium
business can use an Excel or a word application toi interact with their
back-end servers such as Office, SQL Server, Sharepoint server etc. It
is believed that first fully integrated version of Dynamics will be
shipped by year-end of 2007. MS also plans to introduce an enhanced
version of Dynamics by the end of 2008.

In short, you will have an Excel or Outlook interface with ERP, SCM and
CRM capabilities.