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/AirtableODBCDriverforUnix.deb

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

rpm -ivh /path/to/driver/AirtableODBCDriverforUnix.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-airtable/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 Airtable

The driver requests tables and views from Airtable. Specify the following to connect.

BaseId (optional): You can optionally specify either this property or BaseName to limit the shown tables and views to a particular base. Set this to your base ID.
- To find this value, navigate to the Airtable API Reference and select a base. In the introduction section of the Airtable documentation for the selected base, note the value specified in The ID of this base is <Id>.
BaseName (optional): You can optionally specify either this property or BaseId to limit the shown tables and views to a particular base. Set this to the name of the schema, which corresponds to the name of the Base in Airtable, that you want to use.

Authenticating to Airtable

You can authenticate to Airtable using either a Personal Access Token or OAuth PKCE.

Personal Access Token

First, generate a personal access token, if you have not done so already:

Log in to your user account.
Navigate to the token creation page.
Click Create new token.
Under Scopes, click Add a scope to add each of the following:
- data.records:read
- data.records:write
- schema.bases:read
Under Access, add all the workspaces and bases that you want the token to have access to.
Click Create token to generate the token. Copy and save the generated token, as it will only be shown once.

Next, set the following:

AuthScheme: Set this to PersonalAccessToken.
OAuthAccessToken: Set this to the value of personal access token that you generated earlier.

OAuth PKCE

Set AuthScheme to OAuthPKCE.

Desktop Applications

CData provides an embedded OAuth application that simplifies OAuth desktop Authentication. Alternatively, you can create a custom OAuth application. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for information about creating custom applications and reasons for doing so.

Get and Refresh the OAuth Access Token

After setting the following, you are ready to connect:

OAuthClientId (custom applications only): Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your app.
OAuthClientSecret (custom applications only): Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your app. Specifying this value is optional if a value was not generated during the OAuth custom application creation process.
CallbackURL (custom application only): Set this to the redirect URI defined when you registered your app. For example: http://localhost:3333

When you connect, the driver opens Airtable's OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application. The driver refreshes the access token automatically when it expires.

Headless Machines

To configure the driver, use OAuth with a user account on a headless machine. You need to authenticate on another device that has an internet browser.

Choose one of two options:
- Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier and PKCEVerifier values as described in "Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code" below.
- Option 2: Install the driver on a machine with an internet browser and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow.
Then configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.

Option 1: Obtain and Exchange Verifier Codes

To obtain a verifier code and PKCE verifier, you must authenticate at the OAuth authorization URL.

Follow the steps below to authenticate from the machine with an internet browser and obtain the OAuthVerifier connection property.

Choose one of these options:
- If you are using the Embedded OAuth Application, call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
- If you are using a custom OAuth application, set the following properties:
  - InitiateOAuth: Set to OFF.
  - OAuthClientId: Set to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
  - OAuthClientSecret: Set to the client secret assigned when you registered your application. Specifying this value is optional if a value was not generated during the OAuth custom application creation process.
  Then call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure with the appropriate CallbackURL. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint as well as a PKCEVerifier value. Note the value of the PKCEVerifier for later use. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.
Log in and grant permissions to the driver. You are then redirected to the redirect URI.

There will be a parameter called code appended to the redirect URI. Note the value of this parameter. Later you will set this in the OAuthVerifier connection property.

Next, you need to exchange the OAuth verifier code for OAuth refresh and access tokens.

On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuth authentication values:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthVerifier: Set this to the noted verifier code (the value of the code parameter in the redirect URI).
PKCEVerifier: Set this to the PKCEVerifier value you noted earlier in Step 1.
OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id in your custom OAuth application settings.
OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret in the custom OAuth application settings. Specifying this value is optional if a value was not generated during the OAuth custom application creation process.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified location.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then re-set the following properties to connect:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application. Specifying this value is optional if a value was not generated during the OAuth custom application creation process.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location containing the encrypted OAuth authentication values. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the driver to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

Option 2: Transfer OAuth Settings

Prior to connecting on a headless machine, you need to install and create a connection with the driver on a device that supports an internet browser. Set the connection properties as described in "Desktop Applications" above.

After completing the instructions in "Desktop Applications", the resulting authentication values are encrypted and written to the location specified by OAuthSettingsLocation. The default filename is OAuthSettings.txt.

Test the connection to generate the OAuth settings file, then copy the OAuth settings file to your headless machine.

On the headless machine, set the following connection properties to connect to data:

InitiateOAuth: Set this to REFRESH.
OAuthClientId: (custom applications only) Set this to the client Id assigned when you registered your application.
OAuthClientSecret: (custom applications only) Set this to the client secret assigned when you registered your application. Specifying this value is optional if a value was not generated during the OAuth custom application creation process.
OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location of the OAuth settings file you copied from the machine with the browser. Make sure this location gives read and write permissions to the driver to enable the automatic refreshing of the access token.

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-airtable/lib/cdata.odbc.airtable.ini':

[Driver]
AnsiCodePage = 932

ODBC Driver for Airtable