How to connect to SQL Server Data from MS Excel on Mac OS X

Microsoft Excel features calculations, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language that allows users to work with data in many of the ways that suit their needs, whether on a Windows machine or a Macintosh machine. This article walks through creating a DSN for SQL Server data in iODBC and accessing SQL Server data in Microsoft Excel, all on a machine running Mac OS X.

Installing the CData ODBC Drivers on Mac OS X

The CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server is preconfigured for the iODBC driver manager, as are many other products like Microsoft Excel. This makes the driver easy to use with these tools.

Licensing the Driver

In a terminal run the following commands to license the driver. To activate a trial license, omit the key input.

cd "/Applications/CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server/bin"
sudo ./install-license <key>

Defining a DSN for iODBC with odbc.ini

You can define ODBC data sources in sections in the odbc.ini file. User data sources can only be accessed by the user account whose home folder the odbc.ini is located in. System data sources can be accessed by all users. You can find the correct odbc.ini in the following paths:

Modifying iODBC's system-wide settings requires elevated permissions; to do so, you can use following to open a text editor from the terminal:

sudo nano /Library/ODBC/odbc.ini

Connecting to Microsoft SQL Server

Connect to Microsoft SQL Server using the following properties:

• Server: The name of the server running SQL Server.
• User: The username provided for authentication with SQL Server.
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
• Database: The name of the SQL Server database.

Connecting to Azure SQL Server and Azure Data Warehouse

You can authenticate to Azure SQL Server or Azure Data Warehouse by setting the following connection properties:

• Server: The server running Azure. You can find this by logging into the Azure portal and navigating to "SQL databases" (or "SQL data warehouses") -> "Select your database" -> "Overview" -> "Server name."
• User: The name of the user authenticating to Azure.
• Password: The password associated with the authenticating user.
• Database: The name of the database, as seen in the Azure portal on the SQL databases (or SQL warehouses) page.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

In addition to the connection properties required to connect to SQL Server, the Driver property specifies either a driver definition in the odbcinst.ini file or the path to the driver library. Place your connection properties at the beginning of odbc.ini:

[CData SQL Server Sources]
Driver = CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server
User = myUser
Password = myPassword
Database = NorthWind
Server = myServer
Port = 1433

If you wish to authenticate using OAuth, you will need to add an additional connection property to ensure that the OAuth flow can execute properly:

Other = CheckPromptMode=False

Mac OS validates our drivers separately so you need to copy the license file to the appropriate path as well. After you have configured odbc.ini, run the following command.

sudo cp /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server/lib/CData.ODBC.SQL.lic /Users/<YOUR_USER>/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/.cdata/

Additionally, in the ODBC Data Sources section, the DSN must be set to a driver defined in the odbcinst.ini file. For example, below is the entry for the DSN created during the driver install:

[ODBC Data Sources]
CData SQL Server Source = CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server

Registering a DSN for iODBC with odbcinst.ini

You may need to modify the installed driver definition if you change the path to the driver library. To register an ODBC driver, modify the odbcinst.ini file. With iODBC, drivers can be available to only one user account or drivers can be available system wide. You can find the correct odbcinst.ini in the following paths:

Drivers are defined in sections in the odbcinst.ini file. The section name specifies the name of the driver. In this section, the Driver property specifies the path to the driver library. The driver library is the .dylib file located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, by default in /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server.

[CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server]
Driver = /Applications/CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server/lib/libsql.odbc.dylib

The ODBC Drivers section must also contain a property with the driver name, set to "Installed".

[ODBC Drivers]
CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server = Installed

Testing the Connection

You can test your connection using the iODBC administrator.

1. Open a terminal and enter the following command to start the iODBC Administrator with the necessary permissions:

   sudo /Applications/iODBC/iODBC\ Administrator64.app/Contents/MacOS/iODBC\ Administrator64
   

2. On the Users tab, select CData SQL Server Source.
3. Click the Test button.

Accessing SQL Server Data from Microsoft Excel

You can use the DSN configured above to access SQL Server data from Microsoft Excel.

1. Open Microsoft Excel and open a spreadsheet (new or existing).
2. Navigate to the data ribbon, click the drop down next to "Get Data (Power Query)," and select "From Database (Microsoft Query)"
3. Select the User or System DSN that you previously configured and click OK.
4. Build your SQL query in the Microsoft Query wizard:
5. Click Return Data to execute the query and pull data into Excel.

Using the CData ODBC Driver for SQL Server, you can easily pull your SQL Server data directly into Excel. Once there, you can leverage all of the powerful features native to Excel to analyze, report, transform your SQL Server data, and more!