StarSQL for UNIX is a powerful ODBC driver that enables applications running on a UNIX workstation to transparently access, send SQL queries to, and retrieve results from DB2 databases running on remote IBM mainframe, midrange, or Unix systems. It supports the merged ODBC 3.0/CLI specification.
The following topics are addressed in these Release Notes. Refer to the StarSQL for UNIX Quick Start Guide for detailed information about installing StarSQL for the first time, and refer to the StarSQL for UNIX User's Guide (ssqlunix.pdf) for detailed information about using the StarSQL for UNIX driver.
This release of the StarSQL for UNIX introduces the following new features and improvements:
This section describes issues of interest for users who are upgrading from a prior version of StarSQL for UNIX.
Detailed Upgrade Considerations
See the technical document Upgrade Considerations for StarSQL 6.1 & Later for detailed information when upgrading to StarSQL 6.1x & later from earlier versions of StarSQL, including data source changes, installation hints and information about deprecated features.
Rebinding Packages
After installing StarSQL 6.x, you should rebind StarSQL packages on the host system if you upgrading from a version of StarSQL prior to V6.27. We suggest that you use StarAdmin to do this; see the StarSQL technical document Binding StarSQL Packages Using StarAdmin for details. StarAdmin is available for Windows or Linux. If you are using any version of StarSQL prior to v6.19, upgrade those clients to StarSQL v6.19 or later or use a different package collection.
There is no need to bind SQL packages for Derby databases.
Character Substitution
To identify problems with character conversion, StarSQL detects if one or more characters cannot be converted between the host and client character sets and substitutes a question mark, ?, in place of the character(s). A warning is generated when the substitution occurs, which may be problematic for certain applications that are not anticipating this warning. To avoid character conversion warnings, either correct any character conversion issues or, if the character substitution is acceptable, set the CharacterSubstitution value to Silent in the StarSQL DSN.
Dynamic SQL for Catalog Queries
To improve performance when connected to DB2 for z/OS servers, StarSQL executes dynamic SQL statements for catalog queries. This behavior differs from versions of StarSQL prior to v5.36, where static SQL located in the driver's host packages was used to perform all catalog queries. In order for StarSQL to use dynamic SQL for catalog queries, users must be granted SELECT privileges to the catalog tables, such as SYSIBM.SYSTABLES, SYSIBM.SYSCOLUMNS, SYSIBM.SYSROUTINES, etc. If you want the StarSQL driver to use static SQL for catalog functions, set the UseDynamicCatalogSQL parameter to No in the StarSQL DSN. Refer to the StarSQL technical document SQV00SQ051 - StarSQL User Requirements for Dynamic SQL Catalog Queries for details.
TIMESTAMP Precision
StarSQL 6.34 & later supports (and properly describes) TIMESTAMP columns with a scale between 0 and 12. We have chosen to expose DB2's default timestamp precision of 6 as a separate data type name in SQLGetTypeInfo(), named "TIMESTAMP(6)", the type name "TIMESTAMP" is now described as having variable scale from 0 to 12. Setting the data source option HideTsScale=YES will instruct StarSQL to revert to pre-6.34 behavior and hide the variable scale version of TIMESTAMP in SQLGetTypeInfo().
DRDA tracing
The trcviewer application has been removed from StarSQL for UNIX. Instead, use the Trace Viewer on Windows to examine DRDA traces created on UNIX; append a .sqd extension and transfer the trace using binary mode.
You can install and run StarSQL for UNIX on computers with the following operating systems.
You can use the StarSQL driver to connect to any of the following host databases:
This section describes specific IBM issues and the FixPak and PTFs that may be necessary for StarSQL to function properly.
Refer to StarSQL for UNIX User's Guide (ssqlunix.pdf) for specific IBM issues and the FixPak and PTFs that may be necessary for StarSQL for UNIX to function properly.
In addition to those documented in the User's Guide, the following FixPaks should be installed:
In general, it is a good idea to stay current with the PTF CUM and HIPER packages and the DB2 Group PTF, and to use the latest version of StarSQL. The following sections describe more specific issues for different versions of IBM i (OS/400); check to see that the PTFs listed below are either installed or superseded.
Install the following PTF's:
5770SS1-SI79457 for APAR SE77672.
Install the following PTF's:
PTF 5770SS1-SI71251 for APAR SE7227
Install the following PTF's:
5770SS1-SI60775 for APAR SE64851
Install the following PTF's:
5770SS1-SI47677
5770SS1-SI47695
5770SS1-SI47401
5770SS1-SI47379
If you are using Java stored procedures, install PTF 5770SS1-SI39711.
If you are using LOB, install PTF 5770SS1-SI39331.
If you are at cum level ptf level C10229710 and experience unusual behavior, such as "SQLSTATE 22001, native error -404, [StarSQL][StarSQL ODBC Driver][DB2/400]Value for column COL1 too long.", install PTF 5770SS1-SI46072 for APAR SE51079.
If you are uploading XML data to the iSeries, install PTF 5770SS1-SI52427.
cum C8064610 or later
PTF 5761SS1-SI30581
If you are using LOB, install PTF 5761SS1-SI39331
If you are using stored procedures, install PTF's 5761SS1-SI36405 and 5761SS1-SI36136.
If you are uploading XML data to the iSeries, install PTF 5761SS1-SI52430.
PTF 5722SS1-SI23461
PTF 5722SS1-SI24317
If you are using stored procedures, install PTF's 5722SS1-SI22551, 5722SS1-SI36406, and 5722SS1-SI36059.
If you are working with BLOB data, install PTFs 5722SS1-SI22324 and 5722SS1-SI22335.
UTF-8 characters and SQLBindParameter() with SQL_C_CHAR
To ensure proper conversion when using SQLBindParameter() with SQL_C_CHAR to insert UTF-8 characters such as the Euro sign ('€'), add ICONV4UTF8=Y to your ODBC data source.
Suppress Warnings from stored procedures
After upgrading from an older version of StarSQL or an older version of DB2, you may encounter new warning messages when invoking stored procedures; for example:
[DB2]PROCEDURE JPPNODOP RETURNED 1 QUERY RESULTS SETS
If you have an existing application that expects the older behavior, you can suppress warnings from stored procedures by adding the following to the [Default] section of $STARDIR/etc/swoodbc.ini (Where STARDIR is the directory where StarSQL is installed):
SuppressSpWarnings=Y
PHP ( 64-bit)
There are known issue when using a 64-bit version of PHP; patches for PHP are available. Refer to the technical note Using StarSQL with PHP and php-odbc for latest information.
SQLNativeSQL() API & ODBC Tracing (64-bit)
There is a known problem with unixODBC ODBC tracing and the SQLNativeSQL() API on 64-bit platforms.
This section provides information about problems or enhancements that are made available as "point releases" and major releases of the StarSQL for UNIX software.
| Version Number | Release Date | Significant Changes |
|---|---|---|
| v6.50.xxxx | Simplified packaging Built on RHEL/Oracle 8.x |
|
| v6.44.0614 | Jun 2022 | 15573 - using connection string fails if SSL=Y exists anywhere in .odbc.ini 15599 - StarSQL/Linux instability after multiple connection failures 15606 StarSQL Linux: Exception when failing to connect to staging db caused sqdr service crashing add driver name StarSQL (64-bit) to odbcinst.ini 15629 - SQDR Service crashes randomly when creating/deleting/showing IR groups 15633 - StarLicense/Linux: restore node-locked licensing |
| v6.43.1027 | Oct 2020 | 15052 - SSA/OpenSSL conflict with calling application |
| v6.42.0421 | Apr 2020 | 11587 - SSL support for StarSQL/UNIX 12997 - Installer, build, staging, documentation: Abandon UNIX trcviewer 14213 - update unixODBC to 2.3.7 14750 - Add XA support 14746 - UNIX Installer: changes for StarSQL 6.40 14797 - UNIX doc changes for StarSQL 6.40 14801 - Invalid Timestamp Conversion (LUW->LUW) 14820 - Change default for QRYBUFSIZ from 256K to 2M |
| v6.37.0719 | Jul 2018 | 14329 - parser issue in SQDR snapshot scenario |
| v6.36.0608 | Jun 2018 | 14308 - use dynamic SQL rather than packages for catalog calls (z/OS) |
| v6.35 | Mar 2018 | Bugfixes |
| v6.34 | Jan 2018 | 13870 - Implement conditional passing of RSTREF for DB2 Z/OS XML processing 13988 - Cursor Identified is not open (WITH clause) 14007 - Expose Hidden Columns in SQLColumns 14119 - StarSQL doesn't report TIMESTAMP scale correctly 14175 - Inconsistent values returned by StarSQL for TIMESTAMP(s) s>6 14183 - Config option HideTsScale to hide Variable scale TIMESTAMP |
| v6.28 | Aug 2016 | 13698 - Communications link failure retrieving XML column data 13715 - SQL Server 2016 Linked Server problems 13724 - insert of binary BLOB data |
| v6.27 | Jun 2016 | 13663 - UDB BigInt overflow condition in catalog calls 13678 - Column name containing em-dash incorrectly translated by SQLDescribeCol |
| v6.26 | May 2016 | 13579 - custom 1252 to Unicode conversion 13562 - Error in caching logic may cause conversion error for SQL_C_CHAR 13520 - Support additional cp1252 conversions 13392 - support IBM IDAA accelerator 13317 - DB2 LUW SQL Column maximum column name length should be reported as 128 13579 - custom 1252 to Unicode conversion 13653 - SQLStatistics Fails w/error -413 SQLCODE when CARDF column in SYSTABLES is > max(integer) |
| v6.20 | October 2014 | Initial release of StarSQL/UNIX 6.20 |
If you need to contact technical support, please provide the following information to help the support engineers address your issue. You can contact Stelo via phone, email, or facsimile as indicated at the bottom of this page.
| Company Information | Address Phone |
| Contact Information | First and Last Name of individual contact Email Address |
| Host Type | Hardware and Operating System (i.e., IBM i 7.3) |
| Network Protocol/Gateways | Protocol and/or Gateways used (i.e., TCP/IP, SSL/TLS) |
| Client Type | Client Type and Operating System (i.e., Windows Server 2019, Oracle Linux 8.6) |
| Stelo Product, Version, and Source |
Which Stelo product and what version is installed (i.e., StarSQL for Windows v6.41.0719) Where you obtained the software (i.e., direct from Stelo, name of specific reseller) |
| Problem Information | Provide as much detail as possible, including information about any application that is using the Stelo product when the problem occurs and the exact error message that appears. |
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