11/09/2017: ODBC end-of-life Announcement

Announcement:

• New installations of iDashboards (since v9.5)…
  • No longer support ODBC drivers
  • Should use 64-bit (everything) and Java 8
• Existing installations of iDashboards
  • iDashboards will fully support the ODBC driver through June 30, 2018
  • After June 30, 2018, it is unknown what level of support can be provided on a retired ODBC driver alongside a retired version of Java. iDashboards will attempt to troubleshoot the problem but cannot commit to a satisfactory resolution.
  • Caveats include:
    • Must be upgrading from v9.1 (or earlier) and have ODBC connected data sources prior to upgrading to v9.5 (or later).
    • Must use 32-bit Tomcat and 32-bit Java 7

Was this publicly announced?

• v9.5 Release Notes (07/06/2017): https://oskar.idashboards.com/hc/en-us/articles/115008634267-07-06-2017-v9-5-Enterprise-Release-Notes
  • Contains initial message with estimated time-frame
• v9.6 Release Notes (10/23/2017): https://oskar.idashboards.com/hc/en-us/articles/115013862388-10-23-2017-v9-6-Enterprise-Release-Note
  • Contains the most recent message with specific time-frame

What uses ODBC?

Microsoft Excel and Access equate to ~98% of all ODBC connection types for users of iDashboards. Anything else that only offers an ODBC driver is the minority. If a technology is maintained and developed, it is very likely to offer a JDBC driver. In rare circumstances, a technology only offers an ODBC driver and not a JDBC driver. A JDBC driver is ALWAYS preferred over an ODBC driver. 

Why is this happening?

1. iDashboards needs to adopt compatibility with modern Java and 64-bit servers while retiring support for deprecated technologies.
2. Oracle released Java 8 (1.8) on March 18, 2014. This release of Java removed the support of a technology called the ODBC/JDBC Bridge. The ODBC/JDBC bridge is necessary for any Java application (like iDashboards) to use an ODBC driver when connecting to a data source.
3. Oracle stopped support on Java 7 (1.7) on April 14, 2015. iDashboards can not offer support on platform technologies that are no longer supported by their provider.
4. The only stable Excel/Access ODBC driver from Microsoft was released in 2007! The 64-bit version was so error-prone the tech-community only supported the 32-bit version! This has kept many companies from using modern servers or Windows Updates.

Solution?

• For MS Excel…Upgrade to iDashboards v9.5 or later. Almost 2-years ago, the iDashboards development team started work on v9.5 which launched in July 2017. In this release a new “Workbook Database” now handles all Excel files without needing an ODBC driver!
• For MS Access…the iDashboards support team has long-been promoting a robust open-source JDBC driver called UCanAccess (http://ucanaccess.sourceforge.net/site.html).
• There is no support for other ODBC data sources. Please contact the Solution Services team at iDashboards to learn about alternative options.