my $dbh = DBI->connect ("dbi:ODBC:mssql_freetds", $username, $password, \%dbi_attributes);

##</code><code>##

$ cat ~/.odbc.ini
[mssql_freetds]
Description     = My MS SQL database
Driver          = FreeTDS
TDS version     = 7.2
Trace           = No
Server          = mysql.server.local
Port            = 1433
Database        = DatabaseName
User            = UserName
Password        = PassWord
Client Charset  = UTF-8

##</code><code>##

my $dbh = DBI->connect ("dbi:ODBC:mssql_odbc", $username, $password, \%dbi_attributes);

##</code><code>##

$ cat ~/.odbc.ini
[mssql_odbc]
Description     = My MS SQL database
Driver          = ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server
Server          = mysql.server.local
Database        = DatabaseName
User            = UserName
Password        = PassWord