I am accessing a database on another machine from an OS X server. After setting up freetds through macports and creating the freetds.conf file like so: dump file = /tmp/freetds.log # nunb our Microsoft server [winnt] host = 192.168.0.2 port = 1433 tds version = 8.0 I have the following test commands that work: Test freetds works: tsql -S winnt -U sa 1> use myDB; 2> select count (*) from "sysObjects"; 3> go ODBC is setup through /Applications/Utilities/ODBC\ Administrator.app, with dsn "gmb" using the freeTDS driver and a ServerName of "winnt" -- testing it yields: iodbctest "dsn=gmb;uid=sa;pwd=foo" SQL>select count (*) from "sysObjects"; = 792 Now I run the following code in lisp: (require 'asdf) (setf asdf:*central-registry* nil) (push #P"/Users/way/ff/clbuild/systems/" asdf:*central-registry*) (asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op 'cffi) (asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op 'clsql) (asdf:operate 'asdf:test-op 'cffi) (asdf:oos 'asdf:load-op 'clsql-odbc) (asdf:oos 'asdf:test-op 'clsql-odbc) (in-package :clsql-user) (connect '("gmb" "sa" "foo") :database-type :odbc) This drops me in the debugger with the error: debugger invoked on a SQL-DATABASE-ERROR in thread #<THREAD "initial thread" RUNNING {1194EA31}>: A database error occurred: NIL / IM002 [iODBC][Driver Manager]Data source name not found and no default driver specified. Driver could not be loaded Type HELP for debugger help, or (SB-EXT:QUIT) to exit from SBCL