Installing and Configuring the ODBC Driver for macOS

Operating System

For a list of the operating systems supported by Snowflake clients, see Operating System Support.

iODBC

The Snowflake ODBC driver for Mac requires iODBC, which is available for download from:

http://www.iodbc.org/dataspace/iodbc/wiki/iODBC/Downloads

To install iODBC:

1. After downloading iODBC, double-click on the downloaded .dmg file.

2. Double-click on the installer file, iODBC-SDK.pkg, and follow the prompts.

   By default, the package installs the software in the /Library/Application Support/iODBC/bin directory. You can add this directory to the $PATH environment variable to avoid needing to specify the full pathname to execute any of the iODBC commands.

ODBC Manager — Optional/Recommended

ODBC Manager is a GUI tool for configuring drivers and creating/managing DSNs. The tool is optional because you can also create DSNs manually by editing the appropriate odbc.ini file. ODBC Manager is available from:

http://www.odbcmanager.net/

To install ODBC Manager:

1. After downloading ODBC Manager, double-click on the downloaded .dmg file.

2. Double-click on the installer file, ODBC Manager.pkg, and follow the prompts.

The installer installs ODBC Manager in the ~/Applications/Utilities directory.

Creating a DSN Using ODBC Manager

To create a DSN in ODBC Manager:

1. Start ODBC Manager.

2. Click on User DSN or System DSN.

3. Click the Add button.

4. Select the driver to use (Snowflake) and click OK.

5. Enter the name of the DSN and optionally a description.

6. Create a Keyword/Value pair for each DSN parameter:

   1. Click Add to create a Keyword/Value pair.

   2. Select Keyword and replace it with the parameter name.

   3. Select Value and replace it with the value for the parameter.

   Repeat this process for each parameter. For details about the parameters that can be set for each DSN, see ODBC Configuration and Connection Parameters.

7. Click OK to create the DSN.

If you are creating the first user or system DSN for the ODBC driver, ODBC Manager creates the odbc.ini file in the corresponding directory for the type of DSN you are creating. If you are creating additional DSNs, ODBC Manager adds entries for each DSN to the existing odbc.ini file.

Creating a DSN by Adding an Entry in the odbc.ini File

If a user or system DSN has already been created for the driver, add the new entry to the odbc.ini file that already exists in the corresponding directory for the type of DSN you are creating. If you are creating the first DSN for the driver, you must manually create the odbc.ini file and add the entry to the file.

For each DSN, specify:

• DSN name and driver name (Snowflake), in the form of <dsn_name> = <driver_name>.

• Directory path and name of the driver file, in the form of Driver = /opt/snowflake/snowflakeodbc/lib/universal/libSnowflake.dylib.

• Connection parameters, such as server and uid (user login name). Any connection parameters you add to the DSN do not need to be specified in the ODBC connect string.

• Any additional parameters, such as default role, database, and warehouse.

Parameters are specified in the form of <parameter_name> = <value>. For details about the parameters that can be set for each DSN, see ODBC Configuration and Connection Parameters.

The following example illustrates an odbc.ini file that configures two data sources that use different forms of an account identifier in the server URL:

• testodbc1 uses an account identifier that uses an account identifier that specifies the account myaccount in the organization myorganization.

• testodbc2 uses the account locator xy12345 as the account identifier.

  Note that testodbc2 uses an account in the AWS US West (Oregon) region. If the account is in a different region or if the account uses a different cloud provider, you need to specify additional segments after the account locator.

  [ODBC Data Sources]
  testodbc1 = Snowflake
  testodbc2 = Snowflake
  
  
  [testodbc1]
  Driver      = /opt/snowflake/snowflakeodbc/lib/universal/libSnowflake.dylib
  Description =
  uid         = peter
  server      = myorganization-myaccount.snowflakecomputing.com
  role        = sysadmin
  
  
  [testodbc2]
  Driver      = /opt/snowflake/snowflakeodbc/lib/universal/libSnowflake.dylib
  Description =
  uid         = mary
  server      = xy12345.snowflakecomputing.com
  role        = analyst
  database    = sales
  warehouse   = analysis
  

Note the following:

• Both testodbc1 and testodbc2 have default roles.

• testodbc2 also has a default database and warehouse.