The error below is seen when using the DataDirect Connect for ODBC MySQL driver to connect to a MySQL Community Edition Server.
 

MySQL has three different types of servers:

• MySQL Community : These are the freely downloadable fully open sourced versions
• MySQL Standard : These are packaged versions of the Community server that you must purchase.
• MySQL Enterprise : This is MySQL's newest offering.  It's a subscription based service where you pay for the server and in return you get quarterly service packs.

The DataDirect Connect for ODBC and JDBC drivers support 5.0 and later versions of MySQL Commercial or MySQL Enterprise servers. MySQL Community servers are NOT supported.

To determine which type of server you are testing against, you can use the MySQL Command Line Client database utility.

The MySQL Command Line Client is installed with the database. This tool accepts commands similar to many database vendor's isql utilities. The following statement can be used to determine what type of server the user has:

show variables like 'version_comment'

Possible output:

Enter password: *********

Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.

Your MySQL connection id is 3

Server version: 5.0.44sp1-enterprise-gpl-nt MySQL Enterprise Server (GPL)

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> show variables like 'version_comment';

+-----------------+-------------------------------+
| Variable_name   | Value                         |
+-----------------+-------------------------------+
| version_comment | MySQL Enterprise Server (GPL) |
+-----------------+-------------------------------+

1 row in set (0.00 sec)
 
mysql>

If the resulting string value mentions that this is a MySQL Commercial or MySQL Enterprise server, then the DataDirect Connect for ODBC MySQL drivers will connect. If the string mentions that this is a MySQL Community server, the DataDirect Connect for ODBC drivers will not connect.