IBM DB2 not showing from the ODBC dropdown

Question

Hello! I am having an issue where I have attempted to install an IBM DB2 ODBC driver to connect it with Alteryx.

Environment

* Alteryx 2025.1

* DB2 driver: v11.5.4_ntx64_odbc_cli

What happened
I have installed the driver, and it shows in the ODBC manager. I first tried the user DSN, but it doesn't show up in Alteryx with that, so I tried to add it as a system dsn. Same issue:

1. Pick the data source and ODBC

2. No options show as dropdown options.

3. ODBC is installed:

Any ideas on what is wrong here? I am guessing maybe its the wrong driver, but I followed the links from Alteryx for the spesific driver.

dataguyW · Answer

I would suggest that you create these as system DSNs.  You may want to remove the user entry first and recreate as a system DSN.   This generally leads to less headaches when trying to get other applications to recognize them.   The first step is set up the connection in ODBC (if you are going to use a DSN) and TEST the connection.   This takes Alteryx out of the equation.  If you can get a successful connection then you know the driver is installed and your settings, user/pass, etc. are working.   It should show up in your list as well.    I do not know how often Alteryx looks at the ODBC connections.   I may be wrong here but I feel like I've had to close/restart Alteryx before to see an entry.

Dean4U · Answer

Hi @jensroy,

Thanks for reaching out to the community. Have you tried using the Input Data tool with ODBC as the data source? If DSNs still do not appear, you can connect directly using a connection string.

Additionally, please navigate to the Drivers tab in the 64-bit ODBC Administrator and verify that the IBM DB2 ODBC Driver is present and matches the information referenced in the DSN.

You can also try checking your environment restrictions and running Alterryx as an admin(if possible). Also, check the environment variables to ensure that DB2DIR and PATH environment variables are correctly pointing to the IBM DB2 installation directory.

Hope some of these suggestions help you out.

Take care.