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/BigCommerceODBCDriverforUnix.deb 

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

rpm -ivh /path/to/driver/BigCommerceODBCDriverforUnix.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-bigcommerce/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 BigCommerce

There are two ways to authenticate to BigCommerce:

• Using tokens generated from the BigCommerce user interface.
• Using OAuth credentials created by a custom BigCommerce application.

BigCommerce Token

You can obtain the credentials to connect to BigCommerce by generating a token. The token authorizes specific account information to be shared. In this flow, there is no web browser required during execution because you explicitly create and accept permissions for your application directly in the BigCommerce UI. This is the easiest way to connect and is recommended for users who are just accessing their personal or company data.

Generating a Token

In order to connect to your BigCommerce Store and obtain a token, you need to create a store-level API account as follows:

1. Log in to your BigCommerce account.
2. Go to Settings > Store-level API Tokens > +Create API Account.
3. Select Token type > V2/V3 API Token.
4. Enter the name of your account (minimum of four characters).
5. Make a note of the API path. It has the following structure: https://api.bigcommerce.com/stores/{StoreId}/v3/. You need this path to use the API account. Note: The Store Id is also known as the store hash.
6. Choose the OAuth Scopes for the API Account you are creating. The driver cannot access data marked as "None" and cannot modify data marked as "read-only".
7. Click Save. A successful save displays a pop-up window containing API credentials. Save your credentials, since you cannot return to this pop-up window.

You can now use the API credentials to connect to BigCommerce by setting the following connection properties:

• AuthScheme: Set this to PersonalAccessToken.
• StoreId: Set this to the StoreId (store hash) obtained from the API path.
• OAuthAccessToken: Set this to the Access Token obtained in the steps above.

BigCommerce Custom App

Creating a BigCommerce App describes how to create a custom app to connect to BigCommerce. This method details how to create an application for distribution and is required for each of the following sections:

• Desktop applications
• Web applications
• Headless machines

Note that in all these cases, you must set the AuthScheme to OAuth. The following sections assume that you have done so.

Creating an app is more complicated than generating a single OAuthAccess Token, but may be more desireable for client integrations where your design is to connect or allow access to multiple clients, or an administrative scenario where the admin creates an app to be authorized individually by multiple individual users.

Desktop Apps

Follow the steps below to authenticate with the credentials for a custom OAuth app. See "Generating an Access Token" above for more information.

Get an OAuth Access Token

After setting the following properties, you are ready to connect:

• OAuthClientId: Set this to the Client Id in your app settings.
• OAuthClientSecret: Set this to the Client secret in your app settings.
• CallbackURL: Set this to the Redirect URL in your app settings.
• StoreId: Set this to your StoreId. .

When you connect the driver opens the OAuth endpoint in your default browser. Log in and grant permissions to the application.

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.

1. Choose one of these two options:
   • Option 1: Obtain the OAuthVerifier value as described in "Obtain and Exchange a Verifier Code" below.
   • Option 2: Install the driver on another machine and transfer the OAuth authentication values after you authenticate through the usual browser-based flow, as described in "Transfer OAuth Settings" below.

2. Then configure the driver to automatically refresh the access token from 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.

1. Choose one of these options:
   • If you are using the Embedded OAuth Application click BigCommerce 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.
     Then call the GetOAuthAuthorizationURL stored procedure with the appropriate CallbackURL. Open the URL returned by the stored procedure in a browser.

2. Log in and grant permissions to the driver. You are then redirected to the callback URL, which contains the verifier code.
3. Save the value of the verifier code. 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. Set the following properties:

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 the location of the file where the driver saves the OAuth token values that persist across connections.

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 grants 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.

Installing Dependencies for OAuth Authentication

The OAuth authentication standard requires the authenticating user to interact with BigCommerce, using a web-browser. If the first OAuth interaction is to be done on the same machine the driver is installed on, for example, a desktop application, the driver needs access to the xdg-open program, which opens the default browser.

To satisfy this dependency, install the corresponding package with your package manager:

Debian/Ubuntu Package	RHEL/Fedora Package	File
xdg-utils	xdg-utils	xdg-open

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

[Driver]
AnsiCodePage = 932