Creating Connection Profiles


In order to establish a connection with your chosen SQL server, you need to create a profile. This can be done with the Add/Edit Connection Profile dialog box.

To open this dialog box:

  1. Click File > New located on the menu bar.
  2. In the Open Profile Connection dialog box click Add.

Creating a Profile

To create a profile:

  1. Enter the required information in the appropriate fields
  2. Click the Test button to verify that the connection to the server can be established
  3. Click OK to save the Profile.

When you have entered all the required information, tested the connection and clicked OK, the Profile will be stored by the Application. In addition, the Profile will be automatically displayed in theĀ  Open Profile Connection dialog box.

Field information

The majority of fields can be altered - some are read only however (gray text).

Standard

This section governs the parameters used to connect to the server of your choice.

Server type This option enables you to select the type of server you want to establish a connection with. Certain other server specific options will then become available.
Profile name The name of your profile can be entered here. CAST recommends entering the name of the server as a profile name, to enable easy recognition.

A profile name must not contain characters such as commas ',' or parentheses '(' or ')'.

Server name Enter the name of the server that you want to connect to. This server name must be defined in the connection layer you are using (ODBC for example) - except for the CAST Storage Service where an ODBC entry is not necessary.
  • CAST Storage Service: please enter the server's Netbios/DNS name followed by the TCP/IP port number (if no port number is defined, CAST Report Center will presume that that the port is set to 2278). For example: [SERVER_DNS_NAME]:2280

Notes

  • The CAST Storage Service 2 has a default port number of 2280.
Trusted connection Select True or False:
  • True > This flags the connection as trusted (i.e. uses the current Windows user to establish a connection)
  • False > The connection is flagged as non-trusted - you must specify a user name and corresponding password to establish a connection.

Notes

  • When Trusted connection is set to True:
    • please do not enter a username and password, these are not passed to the server and the connection may fail if you do
    • your current Windows user name must be declared in the target MS SQL Server, otherwise the connection will fail
    • and if you are using a defined ODBC data source for your target server, you must ensure that the With Windows NT authentication using the network login ID option is set to "True" in the ODBC data source, and that your current Windows user name is declared in the target MS SQL Server (this is because the "Login ID" and "Password" defined in the ODBC data source are not provided to the connectivity layer when Trusted connection is set to True).
User name Enter a user name that corresponds to an existing login on the server with appropriate permissions for the data you want to exploit.
User password Type the password that corresponds to the above login user name.
Save User password Select either True or False as required. If you select False, you will be prompted to supply a password every time you attempt to establish a connection with the server.
Server connection mode Select the connection type you want to use:
  • Usual > Uses the standard connection method defined in the options above
  • Connection string > Uses a connection string specified in the option below
Server connection string Only available if you select the Connection string method in the Server connection mode option.

Enter a connection string to the server you want to establish a connection with, for example (Oracle):

OCI8:WESLEY,(DESCRIPTION = (ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = wesley)(PORT = 1521)) ) (CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = WESLEY) ) )

Knowledge Base

This section governs more advanced parameters.

Knowledge Base Name This field enables you to define the name of the Knowledge Base (repository) on the server you define in the profile.

By default CWMM will be entered, but you can change this if you have used a different name for your Knowledge Base repository.

SQL start path This option enables you to select the location of an .SQL file that contains an SQL script. The script will be run on completion of the connection process.

This option is aimed at those user who want to customize there connection to a particular configuration, for example, working in Quoted Mode in Microsoft SQL-Server or other environment specific variables.

CAST PL/SQL Component Schema Name (Oracle version only) Select the schema on the server you want to connect to that contains the CAST PL/SQL server-side component. See the Server Manager help for more information about this.

If you have not installed the CAST PL/SQL component, you can leave this option blank.

See Also

Removing Connection Profiles | Open Profile Connection dialog box


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