Source and destination connections

Every job needs a source database and a destination. Pick the source engine, then the destination engine - each has its own connection fields, but the steps are the same.

The connection steps are identical for every engine:

1. Fill in the connection fields: host, port, username, password for a server database, or browse to a file for a file-based one.
2. Click Test connection to verify the credentials.
3. Click Refresh next to Database to list databases for the current user, then pick one (or type the name). For SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and DB2, also pick the Schema.
4. Set the Connection character set to utf8 or Unicode so language-specific characters render correctly.

You can work with the full database or only the tables you need.

Server databases (host, port, username, password):

• SQL Server
• MySQL / MariaDB
• PostgreSQL
• Oracle
• IBM DB2
• Firebird

File databases (browse to a file):

• MS Access
• MS Visual FoxPro
• MS Excel
• SQLite

Destination-only outputs: dump files, PHP script, and program files.

SQL Server

Fill in Host, Port, Username, Password. Pick the protocol from the Connection type combo: TCP/IP, PIPE, or IPX/SPX. Windows Authentication connects with a Windows user account instead of a SQL login.

For Express edition setup and Named Pipes fallback, see Connect SQL Server.

MySQL / MariaDB

Fill in Hostname, Port, Username, Password. Use SSH or SSL if needed.

Engine-specific setup (phpMyAdmin user creation, Aurora MySQL, Google Cloud SQL): Connect MySQL / MariaDB.

PostgreSQL

Fill in Hostname, Port, Username, Password. Use SSH or SSL if needed.

Engine-specific setup (pg_hba.conf, Aurora PostgreSQL, Heroku, Cloud SQL, and other managed services): Connect PostgreSQL.

Oracle

Fill in Host, Port, Username, Password. Pick the access mode from Connect as: Normal, SYSDBA, or SYSOPER, and enter the database name in Net service name or global database name.

IBM DB2

Fill in Host, Port, Username, Password, then pick the database and schema.

Firebird

Specify Server (local or remote), Port, database file path, user name, and password. For a local database, browse to the file with the button next to the field; for a remote one, type the path manually.

MS Access

Choose the .mdb or .accdb file. Enter Username and Password if the database is password-protected.

For databases using Access WorkGroups, tick Using WorkGroups and enter the workgroup credentials.

MS Visual FoxPro

For a FoxPro database, browse to a .dbc file in Open MS FoxPro database (*.dbc). For a directory of free tables, use Create database from set of tables FoxPro (*.dbf) and browse to the directory.

MS Excel

Browse to an .xls or .xlsx file, then click Config to create tables from the sheets or configure existing ones.

• Skip empty rows - ignore rows without data.
• First row contains field names - treat row 1 of the range as the column header.

Excel can also be used as a destination; see destination outputs.

SQLite

Browse to a .db file.

Destination-only outputs

Instead of a live server, DBConvert can write the result to a dump file (SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Firebird, or DB2), a PHP script, or an MS Visual FoxPro program file - useful when you cannot connect to the target directly. For the formats, options, and how to apply them, see Dump files, PHP scripts and FoxPro program files.

Note: these outputs are DBConvert-only; DBSync does not produce them.

You can also write to an MS Excel file as the destination. Each source table becomes a separate Excel sheet.