ODBC Driver Architecture

The architecture of the ODBC Driver has four components:

• Application
  Performs processing and calls ODBC functions to submit SQL statements and retrieve results.

• Driver Manager
  Loads drivers when requested by an application. Included with Microsoft Windows.

• Driver
  Software that processes the ODBC function calls, submits the SQL requests to a specific data source, and returns results to the application. If needed, the driver changes an application's request so that it conforms to the syntax supported by the associated database.

• Data Source
  The data the user wants to access and its associated operating system, DBMS, and the network platform (if any) used to access the DBMS.