ODBC and JDBC Guide

Chapter 3
Installing FileMaker ODBC client drivers
These instructions help you install the ODBC client driver needed to access FileMaker as a data
source from third-party and custom applications via ODBC (Open Database Connectivity). The
ODBC client driver is available through a separate installation on your FileMaker installation disk
or electronic download in the xDBC folder.
The latest versions of the client drivers are also available in the FileMaker Knowledge Base:
http://help.filemaker.com/
Additional information about client drivers is available from this URL:
http://www.filemaker.com/support/technologies
If you’ll be hosting a FileMaker database file using FileMaker Server Advanced, make the client
drivers available to remote users.
After installing the client driver you need, you can configure the driver to access a FileMaker data
source and construct SQL (Structured Query Language) queries to interact with the data.
Hardware and software requirements
To install and use the ODBC client drivers, you need the following minimum equipment and software:
ODBC client driver requirements (Windows)
1 Pentium III 700MHz or higher
1 256 MB RAM minimum, 2 GB RAM recommended, for Windows XP; 1 GB RAM minimum for
Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2
1 Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 2.8 SP1; Windows MDAC 6.0 for Vista. The
MDAC component is usually installed with Windows on the supported Windows platforms.
ODBC client driver requirements (Mac OS)
1 Mac OS computer with an Intel processor
1 1 GB RAM minimum; 2 GB RAM recommended
1 Mac OS X version 10.6 (the software may also work with later versions certified by FileMaker)
Networking requirements
If you’ll be accessing a FileMaker data source hosted on another computer, you’ll need network
access via TCP/IP.
ODBC client driver architecture overview
FileMaker provides 32- and 64-bit client drivers for both Windows and Mac OS, to support 32- and
64-bit ODBC applications.