DBI and DBD are really one in the same. They're also the de facto standard for Perl database interaction.

You probably want to look at DBI and DBD::ADO, as it works really well for Win32 connections. As a bonus, you won't have to install any Sybase open client stuff, either. You'll need some Win32 like Win32::OLE if you don't have them already.

If you're wanting to branch out under some *nix OS, I'd take a look at DBD::Sybase using FreeTDS. Keep in mind that FreeDTS and DBD::Sybase have some problems with placeholder values, so you'll probably have to change some of your statement parsing code. I don't really like the way that the Sybase client libraries work, but I've heard they work equally well.

As for special software, you'll need Perl, the modules that DBD::ADO requires (they're listed in the POD) and the correct ADO drivers for your platform (available from Microsoft). It's about the same as deploying any other Win32 database application, actually.

The only part that I don't really understand is the "adjustments needed" statement. Adjustments from what? Are you a DBA who's only ever used the SQL2000 admin interface? A seasoned Java programmer? An old hat at Visual Basic 5.0? An Access form tweaker? Each of these situations will probably impose different requirements, both in language and data access methodologies. If you care to elaborate a bit more for what you're looking for, I'll post a follow-up.

(EDIT: added the third paragraph because I didn't think I was sufficiently long-winded.)

I don't really like the way that the Sybase client libraries work, but I've heard they work equally well.

The Sybase libs will NOT work against MS-SQL 2k, because MS changed the login sequence so the fallback to the TDS 4.2 protocol fails (TDS 4.2 is supposed to be the lowest common denominator in the TDS protocol stack, and should be supported by both Sybase and MS.)

BTW - what don't you like with the Sybase libs?

Update: dragonchild /msg'd me to say that this node was a bit confusing. What I mean is that the Sybase Client Libraries can't be used to connect to MS-SQL 2k. However, FreeTDS works fine (with some limitations), so DBD::Sybase can certainly be used when built with the FreeTDS libraries.

Michael

This might get you jump started

# See http://perlmonks.org/index.pl?node_id=183417

package DBC;
use DBI;

my $dbh;

sub new { return __PACKAGE__ }

sub connect {
    my ($pointless, $details) = @_;


    my $server   = $details->{server}   || 'default_server';
    my $database = $details->{database} || 'default_database';
    my $user     = $details->{user}     || 'default_user';
    my $password = $details->{password} || 'default_password'; 

    my $DSN = 
       "driver=\{SQL Server\}; 
        Server=$server; 
        database=$database; 
        uid=$user; 
        pwd=$password;"; 

    $dbh ||= DBI->connect("dbi:ODBC:$DSN") or die "$DBI::errstr\n";

}

1;
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And now, when you need connectivity -

use DBC;

my $dbh = DBC->connect({

    database => 'MyDB', 
    user     => 'me', 
    password => 'psw'

});

my $sql = qq{ 

    select 
        mycol, 
        myothercol 
    from 
        mytable 
    where 
        myothercol = 'foo' 
};

my $qr = $dbh->selectall_arrayref($sql)
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What errors are you getting?
For work I recently had to write a small perl script to connect to MSSQL2K servers with active state. To install all the modules needed to connect I use:

c:\> ppm install DBD-ODBC
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Those are for the client only, the server shouldn't need any setup beyond a login to connect with.
To connect I use:

#$winauth is set from the command line to force 'Windows Authenticatio
+n'
my $auth = $winauth ? 'Trusted_Connection=yes' : "uid=$username;pwd=$p
+assword;";
my $DSN = "driver={SQL Server};Server=$server;database=$database;$auth
+";
my $dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:ODBC:$DSN") || die "Error: $DBI::errstr";
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Do you advise using the Win32::ODBC module.

If you have some very specific ODBC things you want to accomplish that aren't part of most everyday database interactions, then yes, use Win32::ODBC. Otherwise, use DBI with DBD::ODBC or one of the other DBDs recommended above. It can use either system DSNs or "DSN-less connections". It will be much easier to learn in the long run (more people to give advice), and what you learn about DBI will apply to many other database contexts whereas what you learn about Win32::ODBC only helps you with Win32/ODBC.