# Connecting to MS SQL server from OSX **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 22, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804 "2008-07-22T22:36:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/1 "2008-07-22T22:36:31Z")
This has been a long painful day and I am hoping someone can help. I am trying to get my Rails application running on Mac/Leopard to connect to a Microsoft SQL server. I have followed the instructions at [http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoConnectToMicrosoftSQLServerFromRailsOnOSX](http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowtoConnectToMicrosoftSQLServerFromRailsOnOSX). Everything appears to work until I get to IRB. In other words, I can use iodbc and tsql with no problem. But when I go into IRB and run require ‘dbi’, I get the following error: LoadError: no such file to load – dbi from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:27:in `gem_original_require' from /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:27:in `require’ from (irb):1 from :0 According to MacPorts, I have installed rb-dbi @0.1.1\_1+dbd\_odbc (active) rb-odbc @0.9995\_0 (active) What am I missing? Thanks! Tom ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 12:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/2 "2008-07-23T00:34:19Z")
This should help you: See [http://www.napcsweb.com/blog/2007/03/08/15/](http://www.napcsweb.com/blog/2007/03/08/15/) to see how I did it. (I try to keep this as up-to-date as I can.) ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 1:07am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/3 "2008-07-23T01:07:43Z")
I have tried all those sites this week myself, the best solution was found at the following link: [http://installingcats.com/2007/12/13/mysql-ruby-gem-install-problem-on-mac-os-x-leopard/](http://installingcats.com/2007/12/13/mysql-ruby-gem-install-problem-on-mac-os-x-leopard/) once this was finished, I was able to go into IRB and type require"MySql" and all worked fine. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/4 "2008-07-23T03:37:18Z")
@hank: MySQL != Microsoft SQL Server. However, that link is very helpful for getting around the MySQL gem issues. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/5 "2008-07-24T04:16:39Z")
I know what it is, although I can’t tell you how to fix it. A gem is specifying that it needs activerecord version 1.15.6. At this point this requirement is discovered, Rails tries to activate that gem. However, your setup is already running activerecord version 2.1.0. Rails can’t activate two versions of the same gem, hence the error. Generally, this happens when a newer version of a gem is installed. In this case, for example, I’d expect to see: /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems.rb:142:in `activate’💎:Exception: can’t activate activerecord (= 2.1.0, runtime), already activated activerecord-1.15.6 In that case, the fix that has worked for me is gem cleanup, which removes older versions of duplicated gems. If you did that, I’m assuming that activerecord 1.15.6 would be removed. I’m not sure what that would do, since you clearly have a gem that is trying to activate 1.15.6 instead of the other way 'round. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2008, 4:21pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/6 "2008-07-23T16:21:34Z")
Brian, Thanks for your post. I followed your tutorial and got the require ‘dbi’ from IRB to work, but when I try to use a brand new rails application with a database.yml set up with the correct Microsoft SQL connection information, I get the following error: /Library/Ruby/Site/1.8/rubygems.rb:142:in `activate’💎:Exception: can’t activate activerecord (= 1.15.6, runtime), already activated activerecord-2.1.0 Anyone have any insight into this? Thanks, Tom ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2008, 7:49am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/7 "2008-07-24T07:49:29Z")
Rails 2.x dropped native support for SQL Server. Add it back. sudo gem instal activerecord-sqlserver-adapter --source= > **[Ruby on Rails](https://rubyonrails.org)** > > A web-app framework that includes everything needed to create database-backed web applications according to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern. ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2008, 7:35pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/connecting-to-ms-sql-server-from-osx/143804/8 "2008-11-19T19:35:09Z")
> sudo gem instal activerecord-sqlserver-adapter --source= > [http://www.rubyonrails.org](http://www.rubyonrails.org) source needs to be: [http://gems.rubyonrails.org](http://gems.rubyonrails.org) in order to instal the activerecord-sqlserver-adapter.