ODBC Data Source Connections

IBM® Cognos® software supports ODBC data sources.

IBM Cognos software divides ODBC connections into two categories: vendor-specific ODBC data sources connections, which use driver-specific capabilities for query creation and generic ODBC data source connections, which use general capabilities.

IBM Cognos software supports the ODBC data sources listed in the following table. The database code appears in the connection string, but can not be edited.

Table 1. ODBC data sources and database code
ODBC Data Source	Database code
ODBC	OD
Composite (ODBC)	CS
IBM Cognos Virtual View Manager (ODBC)	VM
Microsoft SQL Server (ODBC)	SS
Netezza® (ODBC)	NZ
Progress OpenEdge (ODBC)	PG
Red Brick® (ODBC)	RB
Sybase IQ (ODBC)	IQ
Teradata (ODBC)	TD

Any ODBC data source connection not listed should be created using the generic ODBC data source, database code OD.

Using Virtual View Manager to Retrieve Data

Virtual View Manager replaces Composite ODBC data source. However, Composite ODBC data sources are still supported for existing customers.

Virtual View Manager is a data query application which provides access to distributed JDBC, LDAP, flat files and WSDL data sources. In addition to providing the functionality to model these data sources into homogeneous views, it allows the views to be modified via calculations, joins, and filters. IBM Cognos software is then used to access the views using the IBM Cognos Virtual View Manager ODBC driver.