FREETDS.CONF(5)

NAME
freetds.conf - configuration file for FreeTDS

SYNOPSIS
The freetds.conf file describes Sybase and Microsoft dataservers to the FreeTDS library. It comprises sections headed by a servername, followed by a list of connection properties denoted as name-value pairs. Defaults are defined via a [global] section. This file supersedes the interfaces file that Sybase defines for the same purpose, although the latter is still supported.

DESCRIPTION
A section begins with a servername — the name of the server — in square brackets. The servername is chosen at the client's descretion. (One exception: with Sybase ASA the servername must match the database name to be used.)

Sections contain properties, one per line, in the form

    name = value

where name is the connection property to be described. Servernames and properties are not case sensitive. Values are case-preserving i.e., copied literally. Comments begin with either a semicolon (‘;’) or pound sign (‘#’) and continue to end of line. Blank lines are ignored. Whitespace surrounding the ‘=’ is ignored.

PROPERTIES
client charset
    encoding of client data; overrides locale(1) settings
    Domain:
        iconv character set names
    Default:
        ISO-8859-1
connect timeout
    seconds to wait for response from connect request
    Domain:
        0 to MAX_INT
    Default:
        none
debug flags
    logging granularity
    Domain:
        32-bit integer
    Default:
        0x4fff
dump file
    specifies location of a logfile and turns on logging
    Domain:
        valid file name
    Default:
        none
dump file append
    log data appended to file instead of re-writing for each connection
    Domain:
        yes/no
    Default:
        no
emulate little endian
    forces big endian machines to act as little endian to communicate with Microsoft Servers
    Domain:
        yes/no
    Default:
        no
encryption
    off disables encryption (default)
    request
        use if available
    required
        allow encrypted connections only
host
    Name of the host the dataserver is running on.
    Domain:
        host name or IP address
    Default:
        SYBASE
initial block size
    maximum size of a protocol block
    Domain:
        multiple of 512
    Default:
        512
instance
    name of Microsoft SQL Server instance to connect to (supersedes port)
    Domain:
        instance name
    Default:
        none
port
    port number that the dataserver is listening to
    Domain:
        any valid port
    Default:
        TDS 5.0, 5000; TDS 7.0 and up, 1433
tds version
    TDS protocol version to use
    Domain:
        4.2, 5.0, 7.0, 8.0
    Default:
        --with-tdsver value (5.0 if unspecified)
text size
    default value of TEXTSIZE, in bytes
    Domain:
        0 to 4,294,967,295
    Default:
        4,294,967,295
timeout
    seconds to wait for response to a query
    Domain:
        0 to MAX_INT
    Default:
        none (wait forever)

Boolean property values may be denoted as on/off, true/false, or 1/0.

  DEBUG FLAGS
The log's granularity can be controlled with the debug flags property.
Value | Meaning
0x02 severe error
0x04 error
0x08 warning
0x10 network
0x20 information level 1
0x40 information level 2
0x80 function trace and info
0x1000 show pid
0x2000 show time
0x4000 show source level info (source file and line)
0x8000 thread id (not implemented).

NAMES AND LOCATIONS
The file is normally named /etc/freetds.conf or ${HOME}/.freetds.conf. That name can be overridden with the FREETDSCONF environment variable.

FreeTDS will search conf files for a servername in the following order:
1.  a filename set programatically via dbsetifile() that is in .conf format
2.  a filename in the environment variable FREETDSCONF that is in .conf format
3.  ${HOME}/.freetds.conf if extant
4.  @sysconfdir@/freetds.conf

The search stops with the first file containing the servername.

If no conf file is found, FreeTDS searches for an interfaces file in the following order:
1.  a filename set programatically via dbsetifile() that is in interfaces format
2.  ${HOME}/.interfaces
3.  $SYBASE/interfaces (where $SYBASE is an environment variable)

If the requested servername is not found in any configuration file, the fallback mechanism is:
1.  attempt to convert the name to an IP address with inet_addr(3), else
2.  attempt to convert the name to an IP address with gethostbyname(3), else
3.  attempt to look up the literal name “SYBASE”

ENVIRONMENT
FREETDSCONF
    overrides name and location of the system-wide conf file
TDSDUMP
    overrides the name and location of the FreeTDS log file
TDSDUMPCONFIG
    specifies a name and location of a file that logs the search of configuration files
TDSHOST
    overrides the host property
TDSPORT
    overrides the port property
TDSQUERY
    synonym for DSQUERY, the default servername
TDSVER
    overrides the version specified in the freetds.conf

The environment variables TDSVER, TDSDUMP, TDSPORT, TDSQUERY, and TDSHOST override values set by a .conf or interfaces file.

FILES
@sysconfdir@/freetds.conf, ${HOME}/.freetds.conf

SEE ALSO
FreeTDS User Guide.

HISTORY
.conf files first appeared with version 0.53 of FreeTDS.