You're obviously going to want DBI, and an appropriate DBD module or whatever so it can talk to the database in question. When someone asks you to set things up so that Perl can talk to a database, DBI is what they want.

I too need to get this set up (with SQL Server 2000), and I guess the real question is, what DBD module is most appropriate for this scenario? Should we be using DBD::ODBC somehow, or is DBIx::MSSQLReporter the way to go? Something else?

DBI it is, thank you very much. I will now look into whether or not there exists an appropriate DBD. Thanks

DBD::ODBC works very well for MS-SQL Server, at least on Windows. (See other replies for access from Unix).

Allegedly, DBD::Sybase would work well to bypass ODBC, as MS-SQL Server is based on the (old) Sybase database. But I think I remember having heard to have its actual working for MS-SL Server is getting flakier.

p.s. I found this parapgraph in the DBD::Sybase docs: Using_DBD::Sybase_with_MS-SQL

For unix systems I recommend using DBD::ODBC with freetds and iodbc. That combination provides support for bound parameters, which DBD::Sybase with freetds does not if I recall correctly.

Here is the installation script I used last year to install that combination:
Re: Accessing Microsoft SQL Server from Linux using DBD::ODBC

There is also an excellent guide on working with DBD::Sybase here:
Accessing Microsoft SQL Server from Linux using DBD::Sybase

You don't say what the clients are. For *nix, a combination of DBI, DBD::Sybase and FreeTDS would work. For windows, DBI, DBD::ODBC and SQLServer client libs should work.

My SQL Server code tends to look something like this:

use strict;
use DBI;

my $database = 'northwind';
my $login = 'sqluser';
my $password = 'sqlpw';
my $host = 'OURSQLSERVER';

my $data_source = "dbi:ODBC:driver={SQL Server};Server=$host;database=
+$database;uid=$login;pwd=$password;";
}
[download]

<update>IIRC you need to install DBD::ODBC - and I'm assuming you're running your perl on a Win OS...</update>

If you're going to run perl on the windows box, then I would highly recommend DBD::ADO, if you're running the perl on any other platform, you will need to build DBD::Sybase with FreeTDS as Sybase's Openclient doesn't work with SQL Server's authentication very well at all.

Also, take a look at Real World SQL Server Administration with Perl by Linchi Shea (ISBN: 1-59059-097-X). It will save you many many hours of frustration with regards to getting perl to properly work with Microsoft SQL Server.

Jason is spot-on regarding Linchi Shea's book. I stumbled on this book at Borders a year ago and bought it. It's one of my most worn and beloved perl books. Linchi's script examples and downloadable Perl modules are superb for SQL Server and Win32 management.