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/FinancialEdgeNXTODBCDriverforUnix.deb
On systems that support the RPM package format, run the following command with root or sudo:
rpm -ivh /path/to/driver/FinancialEdgeNXTODBCDriverforUnix.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-financialedgenxt/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.
Authenticating to Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT (OAuth)
Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT uses the OAuth authentication standard. In all flows, you must:
- set AuthScheme to OAuth
- set the SubscriptionKey to your Subscription Key
- enable Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT on an authorization account to retrieve results
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.
For authentication, the only difference between the two methods is that you must set two additional connection properties when using custom OAuth applications.
After setting the following connection properties, you are ready to connect:
- CallbackURL: (custom applications only) Set this to the Redirect URL in your custom OAuth application settings.
- 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.
- Extracts the access token from the callback URL.
- Obtains a new access token when the old one expires.
- Saves OAuth values in OAuthSettingsLocation that persist across connections.
Web Applications
When connecting via a Web application, you need to create and register a custom OAuth application with Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT. You can then use the driver to acquire and manage the OAuth token values. See Creating a Custom OAuth App for more information about custom applications.Get an OAuth Access Token
Set the following connection properties to obtain the OAuthAccessToken:
- OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your application settings.
- OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client Secret in your application settings.
Then call stored procedures to complete the OAuth exchange:
- Call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure. Set the AuthMode input to WEB and set the CallbackURL input to the Redirect URI you specified in your app settings. If necessary, set the Permissions parameter to request custom permissions. The stored procedure returns the URL to the OAuth endpoint.
- Navigate to the URL that the stored procedure returned in Step 1. Log in to the custom OAuth application and authorize the web application. Once the application has been authenticated, the browser redirects you to the callback URL.
- Call the GetOAuthAccessToken stored procedure. Set AuthMode to WEB and the Verifier input to the "code" parameter in the query string of the callback URL. If necessary, set the Permissions parameter to request custom permissions.
To connect to data, set the OAuthAccessToken connection property to the access token returned by the stored procedure. When the access token expires after ExpiresIn seconds, call GetOAuthAccessToken again to obtain a new access token.
Headless Machines
To configure the driver to 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 value 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, as described in "Transfer OAuth Settings" below.
- Then configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token on the headless machine.
Option 1: Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code
To obtain a verifier code, 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 click Blackbaud Financial Edge NXT OAuth endpoint to open the endpoint in your browser.
- If you are using a custom OAuth application, create the Authorization URL by setting 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.
- Log in and grant permissions to the driver. You are then redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
- Save the value of the verifier code. Later you will set this in the OAuthVerifier connection property.
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 verifier code.
- 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.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to persist the encrypted OAuth authentication values to the specified location.
After the OAuth settings file is generated, you need to 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.
- 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 create and install 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.
Once you have successfully tested the connection, 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.
- OAuthSettingsLocation: Set this to the location of your OAuth settings file. 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-financialedgenxt/lib/cdata.odbc.financialedgenxt.ini':
[Driver]
AnsiCodePage = 932