Linux DSN Configuration

This section describes how to set up ODBC connectivity and configure DSNs on several Linux distributions: Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu, and Red Hat Linux platforms, like Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Fedora.

Minimum Linux Versions

Here are the minimum supported versions for Red Hat-based and Debian-based systems:


OS	Min. Version
Ubuntu	18.04
Debian	10
RHEL	8
Fedora	28
SUSE	15

Installing the Driver Dependencies

Run the following commands as root or with sudo to install the necessary dependencies:

Debian/Ubuntu:

apt-get install libc6 libstdc++6 zlib1g libgcc1

RHEL/Fedora:
```
yum install glibc libstdc++ zlib libgcc
```

Installing the Driver

You can use standard package management systems to install the driver.

On Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu, run the following command with root or sudo:

dpkg -i /path/to/driver/setup/AzureSynapseODBCDriverforUnix.deb

On systems that support the RPM package format, run the following command with root or sudo:

rpm -ivh /path/to/driver/AzureSynapseODBCDriverforUnix.rpm

Licensing the Driver

Run the following commands to license the driver. To activate a trial, omit the <key> input.

cd /opt/cdata/cdata-odbc-driver-for-azuresynapse/bin/
sudo ./install-license.sh <key>

Connecting through the Driver Manager

The driver manager loads the driver and passes function calls from the application to the driver. You need to register the driver with the driver manager and you define DSNs in the driver manager's configuration files.

The driver installation registers the driver with the unixODBC driver manager and creates a system DSN. The unixODBC driver manager can be used from Python and from many other applications. Your application may embed another driver manager.

Creating the DSN

See Using unixODBC to install unixODBC and configure DSNs. See Using the DataDirect Driver Manager to create a DSN to connect to OBIEE, Informatica, and SAS.

Connecting to Azure Synapse

In addition to providing authentication (see below), set the following properties to connect to a Azure Synapse database:

Server: The server running Azure Synapse. To find this:
1. Log into the Azure portal.
2. Navigate to Azure Synapse Analytics
3. Navigate to Select your database > Overview > Server name.
Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the Azure Synapse Analytics page.

Authenticating to Azure Synapse

Azure Synapse supports authentication using Entra ID (AzureAD), Azure Service Principal, Managed Service Identity (MSI), Password (default), and Azure Password.

Authenticate to Azure Synapse as described in the following sections.

Entra ID (Azure AD)

Microsoft Entra ID is a multi-tenant, cloud-based identity and access management platform. It supports OAuth-based authentication flows that enable the driver to access Azure Synapse endpoints securely.

Authentication to Entra ID via a web application always requires that you first create and register a custom OAuth application. This enables your application to define its own redirect URI, manage credential scope, and comply with organization-specific security policies.

For full instructions on how to create and register a custom OAuth application, see Creating an Entra ID (Azure AD) Application.

After setting AuthScheme to AzureAD, the steps to authenticate vary, depending on the environment. For details on how to connect from desktop applications, web-based workflows, or headless systems, see the following sections..

Desktop Applications

You can authenticate from a desktop application using a custom OAuth application registered in Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure AD), as described in Creating an Entra ID (Azure AD) Application.

During registration, record the following values:

OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
CallbackURL: A redirect URI you defined during application registration.

When you are ready to connect, set the following connection properties:

AuthScheme: AzureAD
InitiateOAuth:
- GETANDREFRESH – Use for the initial login. Launches the login page and saves tokens.
- REFRESH – Use this setting when you have already obtained valid access and refresh tokens. Reuses stored tokens without prompting the user again.
OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
CallbackURL: A redirect URI you defined during application registration.

After authentication, tokens are saved to OAuthSettingsLocation. These values persist across sessions and are used to automatically refresh the access token when it expires, so you don't need to log in again on future connections.

Headless Machines

Headless environments like CI/CD pipelines, background services, or server-based integrations do not have an interactive browser. To authenticate using AzureAD, you must complete the OAuth flow on a separate device with a browser and transfer the authentication result to the headless system.

You have two setup options:

Option 1: Obtain and exchange a verifier code
- Use another device to sign in and retrieve a verifier code, which the headless system uses to request tokens.
Option 2: Transfer an OAuth settings file
- Authenticate on another device, then copy the stored token file to the headless environment.

Option 1: Using a Verifier Code

On a device with a browser:
- If using a custom OAuth app, set the following properties:
  - OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
  - OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
- Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationUrl stored procedure to generate a sign-in URL.
- Open the returned URL in a browser. Sign in and grant grant permissions to the driver. You are redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
- After signing in, save the value of the code parameter from the redirect URL. You will use this later to set the OAuthVerifier connection property.
On the headless machine:
- Set the following properties:
  - AuthScheme: AzureAD
  - OAuthVerifier: The verifier code you saved.
  - OAuthSettingsLocation: The path of the file that holds the OAuth token values.
  - For custom applications:
    - OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    - OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
- After tokens are saved, reuse them by setting:
  - OAuthSettingsLocation: Make sure this location grants read and write permissions to the driver to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
  - For custom applications:
    - OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    - OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

On a device with a browser:
- Connect using the instructions in the Desktop Applications section.
- After connecting, tokens are saved to the file path in OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.
Encrypted values are stored in the system registry.
On the headless machine:
- Copy the OAuth settings file to the machine.
- Set the following properties:
  - AuthScheme: AzureAD
  - OAuthSettingsLocation: Make sure this location grants read and write permissions to the driver to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.
  - For custom applications:
    - OAuthClientId: The client Id that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.
    - OAuthClientSecret: The client secret that was generated when you registered your custom OAuth application.

After setup, the driver uses the stored tokens to refresh the access token automatically, no browser or manual login is required.

Azure Service Principal

Note: Microsoft has rebranded Azure AD as Entra ID. In topics that require the user to interact with the Entra ID Admin site, we use the same names Microsoft does. However, there are still CData connection properties whose names or values reference "Azure AD".

Service principals are security objects within a Microsoft Entra ID (Azure AD) application that define what that application can do within a specific tenant. Service principals are created in the Entra admin center, also accessible through the Azure portal. As part of the creation process we also specify whether the service principal will access Entra resources via a client secret or a certificate.

Depending on the service you are connecting to, a tenant administrator may need to enable Service Principal authentication or assign the Service Principal to the appropriate roles or security groups.

Instead of being tied to a particular user, service principal permissions are based on the roles assigned to them. These roles determine which resources the application can access and which operations it can perform.

When authenticating using a service principal, you must register an application with an Entra tenant, as described in Creating a Service Principal App in Entra ID (Azure AD).

This subsection describes properties you must set before you can connect. These vary, depending on whether you will authenticate via a client secret or a certificate.

Authentication with Client Secret

AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipal.
AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you will connect.
OAuthClientId: The client ID in your application settings.
OAuthClientSecret: The client secret in your application settings.
InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.

Authentication with Certificate

AuthScheme: AzureServicePrincipalCert.
AzureTenant: The Azure AD tenant to which you will connect.
OAuthClientId: The client Id in your application settings.
OAuthJWTCert: The JWT Certificate store.
OAuthJWTCertType: The JWT Certificate store type.
InitiateOAuth: GETANDREFRESH. You can use InitiateOAuth to avoid repeating the OAuth exchange and manually setting the OAuthAccessToken.

Managed Service Identity (MSI)

If you are running Azure Synapse on an Azure VM and want to automatically obtain Managed Service Identity (MSI) credentials to connect, set AuthScheme to AzureMSI.

User-Managed Identities

To obtain a token for a managed identity, use the OAuthClientId property to specify the managed identity's client_id.

If your VM has multiple user-assigned managed identities, you must also specify OAuthClientId.

Password

To authenticate directly to Azure Synapse, set these properties:

AuthScheme: Password
User: The authenticating Azure Synapse user.
Password: The authenticating Azure Synapse user's password.

Azure Password

To authenticate directly to Azure Active Directory using your Azure credentials, specify the following connection properties:

AuthScheme: AzurePassword.
User: The account for the authenticating Azure user.
Password: The authenticating Azure user's password.
AzureTenant: The Directory (tenant) ID of the custom Azure AD application used to authenticate to Azure Synapse on Azure. To find this, go to the custom application's Overview page.

Set the Driver Encoding

The ODBC drivers need to specify which encoding to use with the ODBC Driver Manager. By default, the CData ODBC Drivers for Unix are configured to use UTF-16 which is compatible with unixODBC, but other Driver Managers may require alternative encoding.

Alternatively, if you are using the ODBC driver from an application that uses the ANSI ODBC API it may be necessary to set the ANSI code page. For example, to import Japanese characters in an ANSI application, you can specify the code page in the config file '/opt/cdata/cdata-odbc-driver-for-azuresynapse/lib/cdata.odbc.azuresynapse.ini':

[Driver]
AnsiCodePage = 932

ODBC Driver for Azure Synapse