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ODBC Driver (Excel, Power BI, Tableau)

The 3forge Enterprise ODBC driver lets any ODBC-aware Windows application query Enterprise as if it were a relational database, translating ODBC calls into the AMI JDBC wire protocol, with configurable row limits, timeouts, encryption, and failover. Excel, Tableau, Power BI, and other compatible applications get governed access to data across the platform's components through one managed connection.

Install

Run Install3ForgeODBCDriver.exe as Administrator. It:

  • installs 3f_jdbc_odbc.dll plus the bundled OpenSSL runtime,
  • registers the forge ODBC Driver, and
  • creates system and user DSNs named forgeDSN automatically.

Verify in ODBC Data Sources (64-bit) -> Drivers.

DSN Fields

A DSN captures the connection details:

  • host, port (JDBC acceptor, default 3280), username / password
  • Use SSL (on by default)
  • optional comma-separated failover URLs
  • query timeout (ms) and rows fetch size

Avoid DSN names starting with a digit

Excel's Power Query silently ignores DSN names that begin with a digit. Name your DSN with a leading letter.

Connection Strings

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# DSN-based connection string:
DSN=forgeDSN;UID=<user>;PWD=<password>;

# Driver-based (no DSN), with failover and a larger fetch:
Driver={forge ODBC Driver};HOST=ami-primary;PORT=3280;UID=<user>;PWD=<password>;SSL=1;
FAILOVER_URLS=ami-backup1:3280,ami-backup2:3280;AMI_ROWS_FETCH_SIZE=50000;

Mutual TLS

When SSL=1 (the default), mutual TLS is mandatory. Supply the client certificate and key, with the client key registered on the server:

  • SSL_CLIENT_CERT_FILE and SSL_CLIENT_KEY_FILE (required)
  • SSL_SERVER_PUB_FILE (optional; pins the server)

See Mandatory Mutual TLS for provisioning the client keypair and adding its public key to the server allowlist.

Using It from Excel

Data -> Get Data -> From Other Sources -> From ODBC, pick forgeDSN, select tables in the Navigator, then "Load" or "Transform Data". Refresh re-executes against the server.

Notes

  • Always autocommit (no transactions). With pyodbc, use autocommit=True.
  • Input parameters only.
  • Windows only.
  • Driver activity logs to C:\ProgramData\3forge_odbc\3f_odbc_driver.log (level via _3F_ODBC_LOG_LEVEL).