How to Create a Windows Access DSN in the Control Panel

A data source name (DSN) is a one-word identifier that points to your database and contains all the information needed to connect. When used on your site, the DSN tells the web server which database to connect to and what parameters to use for the connection. An Access DSN is configured differently than a regular DSN.

To configure a DSN for your Windows or ColdFusion plan to connect to a MySQL or MS SQL database, please see one of these articles: How to Create a Windows DSN in the Control Panel OR How to Create a ColdFusion DSN in the Control Panel

This article assumes that you are already familiar with how to log in to the customer control panel. If you do not know how to log in or have forgotten your password, please refer to this article first.

• On the control panel Home tab, click "Manage Website" under the Websites section.

• Click "DSN Management".

• Click "Add New DSN".

• Enter a data source name and select "Microsoft Access database". Click Next. Note: The final DSN name will start with "dsn" plus an underscore, then the value you entered.

• Next, you will need to specify the file location of your database relative to your site. The database folder must either be located in some subfolder of /private or /wwwroot (for example, /wwwroot/domain.com/data/database.mdb would still work, because it is in the wwwroot folder). Note: The path to the file must start with the folder name with NO slash, and must use backwards slashes. This is displayed in the example below (data\database.mdb). If your database has a user name or password, check the box for "Specify Advanced Properties" to enter these credentials. Make any other necessary changes and then click Finish to confirm creation of the DSN.

If you have any further questions that were not answered in this article, please contact us.