BCP utility on linux: NativeError = 18456 Error = [unixODBC][Microsoft][ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server][SQL Server]Login failed for user - sql-server

Question

Following BCP example (installed on CentOS7 via https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-setup-tools?view=sql-server-2017#a-idrhelainstall-tools-on-rhel-7 with the msodbcsql driver from https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-2017) for importing flatfile from linux to a MSSQL Server (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-migrate-bcp?view=sql-server-2017#import-data-from-the-source-data-file), getting error when trying to run basic command to write a flatfile from local machine (CentOS7) to a remote (Windows Server 2012) host DB.
The script being used for testing here looks like:
[me#mapr001 examples]$ cat simple-bcp-tsv2mssql.sh
#!/bin/bash
TO_SERVER_ODBCDS="-D -S 'ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server'"
TO_SERVER_IP="-S 172.17.9.29"
DB="DB_ML"
TABLE="bcp_test"
USER=""
PASSWORD=""
DATAFILE="./data/simple-rows.headless.tsv"
read -r -p "Enter username: " USER
read -r -s -p "Enter user password: " PASSWORD
echo -e "\nConnecting with BCP utility as $USER..."
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/bcp "$TABLE" in "$DATAFILE" \
"$TO_SERVER_DNS" \
-U "$USER" \
-P "$PASSWORD" \
-d "$DB" \
-c \
-t "'\t'"
and is throwing the (seemingly misleading) error
[me#mapr001 examples]$ ./simple-bcp-tsv2mssql.sh
Enter username: me
Enter user password:
Connecting with BCP utility as me...
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/bcp: unknown option
usage: /opt/mssql-tools/bin/bcp {dbtable | query} {in | out | queryout | format} datafile
[-m maxerrors] [-f formatfile] [-e errfile]
...
even though I appear to be following this usage format in the script. The results when running via commandline are what I think I should really be focusing on:
[me#mapr001 examples]$ bcp bcp_test in ./data/simple-rows.headless.tsv -D -S MyMSSQLServer -U me -P mypassword -d DB_ML -c -t '\t'
SQLState = 28000, NativeError = 18456
Error = [unixODBC][Microsoft][ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server][SQL Server]Login failed for user 'me'.
The /etc/odbc/odbc files on this machine look like
# Referencing some of the ODBC setup steps here: https://github.com/mkleehammer/pyodbc/wiki/Connecting-to-SQL-Server-from-RHEL-6-or-Centos-7
# Prepare a temp file for defining the DSN to your database server
vi /home/user/odbcadd.txt
[MyMSSQLServer]
Driver = ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
Description = My MS SQL Server
Trace = No
Server = 172.17.9.29
# register the SQL Server database DSN information in /etc/odbc.ini
sudo odbcinst -i -s -f /home/me/odbcadd.txt -l
[me#mapr001 examples]$ cat /etc/odbc.ini
[MyMSSQLServer]
Driver=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server ------------
Description=My MS SQL Server |
Trace=No |
Server=172.17.9.29 |
|
[MyMSSQLServer_ML] |
Driver=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server |
Description=My SQL Server (ML DB) |
Tracec=No |
Server=172.17.9.29 |
Database=DB_ML |
|
|
[me#mapr001 examples]$ cat /etc/odbcinst.ini |
[PostgreSQL] |
Description=ODBC for PostgreSQL |
Driver=/usr/lib/psqlodbcw.so |
Setup=/usr/lib/libodbcpsqlS.so |
Driver64=/usr/lib64/psqlodbcw.so |
Setup64=/usr/lib64/libodbcpsqlS.so |
FileUsage=1 |
|
[MySQL] |
Description=ODBC for MySQL |
Driver=/usr/lib/libmyodbc5.so |
Setup=/usr/lib/libodbcmyS.so |
Driver64=/usr/lib64/libmyodbc5.so |
Setup64=/usr/lib64/libodbcmyS.so |
FileUsage=1 |
|
[ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server] <----------------
Description=Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
Driver=/opt/microsoft/msodbcsql17/lib64/libmsodbcsql-17.2.so.0.1
UsageCount=1
[me#mapr001 ~]# odbcinst -q -d -n "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server"
[ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server]
Description=Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
Driver=/opt/microsoft/msodbcsql17/lib64/libmsodbcsql-17.2.so.0.1
UsageCount=1
[me#mapr001 ~]# odbcinst -j
unixODBC 2.3.1
DRIVERS............: /etc/odbcinst.ini
SYSTEM DATA SOURCES: /etc/odbc.ini
FILE DATA SOURCES..: /etc/ODBCDataSources
USER DATA SOURCES..: /etc/odbc.ini
SQLULEN Size.......: 8
SQLLEN Size........: 8
SQLSETPOSIROW Size.: 8
The problem appears to be related to how I've setup ODBC drivers and configs or with my credentials (which are Active Directory credentials that I use to login to the remote Windows machine hosting the SQL Server I'm trying to connect to here), but I have zero experience setting this kind of thing up and at this point am at a bit of a loss as to what to do (will continue researching and debugging). Any advice on how to further debug or fix the problem would be appreciated.

Answer 1

The problem appears to be that the bcp utility expects credentials for the SQL Server (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/bcp-utility?view=sql-server-2017#U and https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/bcp-utility?view=sql-server-2017#T), not the crednetials for the host machine that the SQL Server is running on.
In my original post, was using the domain Active Directory creds. that I would normally use to login to the machine (which, again, is wrong (further supported here: https://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/FindPost1565871.aspx)). Using a separate set of SQL Server credentials instead in the command solved my problem. (Still don't get why the script is throwing "unknown option" error, so if anyone has a guess, please leave a comment).
UPDATE: After some "binarysearch debugging" (https://www.codelord.net/2012/04/10/using-binary-search-for-debugging/), found that the problem was that the field_term option (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/bcp-utility?view=sql-server-2017#t) was formatted in a way that was causing some problems. Originally wrote the code in the script as -t "'\t'". Changing this to -t "\t" (no inner single quotes) fixed the problem. Note that this was hard to immediately catch because when echoing both versions of the command printed to the console exactly the same.