Recently, I was tasked to install the product SAP Data Services running on Sybase ASE database on a Windows box. The sequence of this installation consists of several steps
- Installing Sybase ASE database on the DB node
- Create CMS and Audit database tenant
- Create ODBC connections to the respective tenants from the application node
- Install the Intelligent Platform Services followed by Data Services on the application node
During this aforementioned sequence of processes, after successfully installing the Sybase ASE database, I faced the below issue while trying to connect to isql prompt.
The Challenge: isql Connection Failure
I encountered a common problem when connecting to the isql prompt for administering the database and creating the CMS/Audit tenants:
The error seems to suggest a missing libsybct64.dll file. However, this is misleading—reinstallation won’t resolve the issue and may put you in an endless loop of installs and uninstalls.
Root Cause: Environment Not Set Properly
Upon deeper investigation (and reviewing SAP Sybase documentation), I discovered the root of the problem: the installer had not properly set up the environment. As per SAP guidelines, this must be done manually using a script provided by the installer.
This below shown script usually resolves the problem. In some cases, including mine, the issue persisted and isql remained inaccessible.
The Solution: Manual PATH Variable Setup
To fix this issue, we need to set the environment variable “PATH” manually. To find the corresponding entries pertaining to this environment, we should run this script at command prompt
Steps:
- Log in to the command prompt
- Switch to the filesystem/directory where the installation was performed
- Find the script – in this example the path is E:SAP
- Run the script and note the output from the command prompt which will show the value needs to be set for the parameter.
- Open system properties –> Go to Environment variables
- In the System variables section, click on add new
- Set the variable name PATH with the value obtained from the output
- Save and close the system properties.
- Trigger the isql.exe situated in the OCS-16_0 folder
- Verify the successful connection
Key Takeaways
- Don’t be misled by missing DLL errors—investigate environment configuration first
- Always check SAP documentation and use provided scripts for setup
- If the script doesn’t work, set the environment variables manually via System Properties
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