Unix, Windows For Unix, And Direct Read Of .mdf File This Is A True Story

First, let me start by saying I know the answer to this, but due to politics any answer I give will be viewed with some disdain and disbelief.

A Unix/Network [rtdpmin one our sister agencies is trying to solve a problem that really does not need to be solved, but ....

The sister agency uses Information Builder's WebFocus on Unix. When they try to read my data warehouse in SQL Server 2000 it times out on them (on their end and they claim they cannot fix it) (This is using the supplied WebFocus ODBC/JDBC driver for SQL Server). This has lead to accusations of us not letting them read the data.

After much gnashing of teeth over "if you do data and data analysis for a living, why do I have to show you how to set-up an ODBC connection" we have shown them how to connect to the data, read it, and transfer it using MS-ACCESS, EXCEL, and more importantly SPSS. This is not good enough because they cannot figure out how to put it into WebFocus.

Their network person has come-up with the brilliant idea of reading the .mdf directly by installing Windows for Unix on the Unix side and then just pointing to the .mdf file and "reading it ".

Unless I have missed something somwhere (I will admit possible), I know you need a driver to read MS-SQL and that driver in every example I have seen could care less about the physical location of the .mdf file. It wants to know what database, what server (ip or name) and what security/login to use.

Could someone give me a more "technical answer" or even Microsoft's party line so I do not have this person mucking around with my production server trying to acomplish the impossible.