Changing SQL access data after your install

Owned by Brian Rinebarger
Last updated: Jan 11, 2022
3 min read

Question: Do I need to re-install ScrewDrivers Pro/Enterprise just to change access to my SQL database?

Answer: No.

This is a common question we receive in Support. Your Database Administrator has setup a new database server, copied the existing Tricerat SQL database and wants you to “just point Tricerat” to use the new server. He also renamed the database. Maybe the SQL account or password may have changed too. Don’t worry, you can mange these changes easily.

ScrewDrivers Database Connection

To the rescue, ScrewDrivers Database Connection. This program is installed whenever a Tricerat component needs to access your SQL database.

You will find a shortcut to start the program in the Start menu. Another possibility when running ScrewDrivers Administration is Tools->Database Connection to start the program.

Here you find all the SQL data we have discussed changing as well as the connection authentication method.

If you change any of this data, remember to use the Test Connection button to verify your changes before using the Save button!

You can Show the password only if you entered the password.

This only affects the machine where you are running ScrewDrivers Database Connection!

If you have multiple servers where this SQL access data needs to be updated, you would need to run ScrewDrivers Database Connection on each server.

Under the hood

The ScrewDrivers Database Connection program is just an interface to the registry where this data is actually stored. In this section, we will review the important locations in the registry where this data is stored.

There are 3 locations in the registry where data is kept.

The first registry location is:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBC.INI\Tricerat Simplify

Here you can see the SQL database, driver and server we are using. If only the name of the SQL database needs to change, you could edit the Database value. If the SQL server needs changing, you could edit the Server value. This data is normally maintained by the ODBC Data Sources (64-bit) or ScrewDrivers Database Connection tools. This data makes up a Data Source Name (DSN) named “Tricerat Simplify”.

The second registry location is:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Tricerat\Common\Console DSN

The third registry location is:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Tricerat\Common\Simplify DSN

For practical purposes, these 2 locations contain the exact same data and should be kept in sync. This data is maintained by the ScrewDrivers Database Connection tool. The Password value is encrypted binary data and can only be updated by using the ScrewDrivers Database Connection tool.

If any of this data needs to be updated, you must use the ScrewDrivers Database Connection tool.

Migrating registry DSN settings

As mentioned above, you could run the ScrewDrivers Database Connection on every server where Tricerat components are installed when SQL settings need to be updated. In some environments, this could be tedious. An alternative method would be to:

  1. Use the ScrewDrivers Database Connection tool to update the SQL settings

  2. Test these settings to verify they are correct

  3. Export these 3 registry locations using regedit.exe and Export

  4. Import the 3 created registry files from step 3 into another server

  5. Repeat step 4 for each server