KB311663: How to modify ODBC error messages to hide sensitive information related to the database or data in MicroStrategy Secure Enteprise

• Strategy

While running reports in MicroStrategy Secure Enterprise, under certain scenarios, ODBC errors may contain sensitive information which end users should not be able to see. This Knowledge Base article describes how to modify ODBC error messages to hide such sensitive information.

While running reports in Strategy Secure Enterprise 10.x, under certain scenarios, ODBC errors may be presented to the end user which may contain sensitive information such as column names or datatypes as shown below:


Error type: Odbc error. Odbc operation attempted: SQLExecDirect. 
[22018:245: on SQLHANDLE] [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]
Conversion failed when converting the nvarchar value 'Books' to data type int..

The behavior in Strategy Secure Enterprise 10.4 GA and 10.4 Hotfix 1 is different. Refer to the following Strategy Knowledge Base document for more details:
KB307377: Incomplete error messages are received when report or document executions run into ODBC errors in Strategy Secure Enterprise 10.4

With the release of Strategy Secure Enterprise 10.4 Hotfix 2 and Strategy Secure Enterprise 10.6, the error message is by default more elaborate. In order to change how the error message is displayed to end users a new registry setting is now available. When enabled, the above error message will instead display encrypted as:


Error type: Odbc error. Odbc operation attempted: SQLExecDirect.Invalid conversion between incompatible data type..

In order to take advantage of this new setting, follow the steps below.

Open the registry editor on Windows (or MSIReg.reg on Unix/Linux)
In the Windows registry, navigate to the key: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\MicroStrategy\Common Files\" and create a new string value "EnableODBCErrorMessageMapping" as shown below. It is not necessary to set this string to any specific value and is sufficient to just create this entry.

For UNIX/Linux installations, make a backup of the MSIReg.reg file before making any changes. In the MSIReg.reg file, create a new string value, "EnableODBCErrorMessageMapping" in the location provided below and save the MSIReg.reg file.
```
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MicroStrategy\Common Files]
"Path"="/opt/MSTR10"
"EnableODBCErrorMessageMapping"=""
```

It is not necessary to restart the Strategy Intelligence Server after making this change; the setting should take effect immediately.

Registry Modification:
WARNING:
Modifying registry values incorrectly may cause serious, system-wide problems that may require the re-installation of Microsoft Windows. Any edit of the registry is done at the user's own risk. Since these are user-initiated changes, they are not covered by any Strategy warranty. If using Microsoft Windows, the user should backup the registry and/or update an Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) prior to alterations.
KB311663

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Knowledge Article

Published:

April 7, 2017

Last Updated:

December 19, 2018

Error type: Odbc error. Odbc operation attempted: SQLExecDirect. [22018:245: on SQLHANDLE] [Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server] Conversion failed when converting the nvarchar value 'Books' to data type int..