Making ODBC connection - odbc

Question

I'm trying to setup a ODBC connection from a Windows XP/Pro (32bit) client to a MySQL database running on a CentOS 6.3 64bit server.
Both systems are on the same subnet.
I have Samba installed and working on the CentOS server.
I can map the server directory that contains the database tables on the XP system.
The DB server is fully updated on all packages.
I can login to the server with myid:mypw via ssh, a standard user. Same user can make SELECTS from the database.
Can not ssh to root on CentOS server, root is excluded in the ssh config.
When I try to run the ODBC Data Source Administrator on the XP client, on the Create a New
Data Source to SQL Server screen, I select using a login ID entered by the user. I'm
entering the same ID:pw I use to ssh into the server. At that point I get an error,
SQLState = '08001';
SQL Server error: 17;
SQL Server does not exist or access denied"
The Server name I'm entering for "Which SQL Server do you want to connect to?", I've entered the host name of the CentOS that is defined in the XP's /etc/host file. It does appear in the drop down list for that question.
I have installed unixODBC*, mysql-connector-odbc & libtool* packages via yum.
On the server, odbc -q -d returns: [MySQL]
odbcinst.ini includes lines for Driver | Setup | Driver64 | Setup64. The 64 versions do point to /usr/lib64.....
odbc.ini includes: [MyDSN} & Driver = MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver
Any idea what I've missed so far? Am I running into 32/64 bit system issues? And if so how do I solve this, I will have both 32 & 64 bit users most of them on Windows 7/Pro 64 bit, a few stuck on XP/Pro 32 bit.
I'm a bit lost in this task, so some detailed instructions would be great.
Thanks in advance..

Answer 1

Assuming you have not made a mistake and you really want to access a MySQL database on a remote Centos based system from Windows using ODBC you'll need to install the MySQL ODBC Driver on your Windows machine. You cannot use the MS SQL Server driver to access MySQL. Once you've done that you create a MySQL ODBC data source (although you can use DSNless connections) and not a SQL Server DSN.
2 and 3 are irrelevant as the MySQL ODBC driver is capable of talking directly to your MySQL Database server over the network assuming your server is set up to listen for external connections.
5 is also irrelevant as you'll need a MySQL database username and password and you database needs to allow connections from your windows machine.
(9-12) You also do not need to install unixODBC of the MySQL connector on your Centos box unless you want to access that same MySQL database with an application running on Centos that uses ODBC. 10 just tells you you've got an entry in your odbcinst.ini file for the MySQL ODBC driver which you don't need. 11 is the same info. 12 is a MySQL ODBC DSN which you also don't need.