LD2 have you tried using $DBI::errstr? that may give you a more specific error

LD2 I meant..have you used it for die.. i.e. or die $DBI::errstr; also..have you just tested your connect string.. to make sure it's accurate? (silly question, I know)

The connect statement fails. There are no warnings or syntax errors (perl -wc). Here's the full statement:

my $compression = "compression=gzip";
$dbh = DBI->connect("dbi:Proxy:$proxy;$compression;dsn=$dsn","","")
            or die"\n\n" . DBI->errstr() . "\n\n";
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The DBI->errstr() duplicates the already printed message:

DBI->connect(hostname=192.245.224.9;port=3333;compression=gzip;dsn=DBI
+:ODBC:Help
Desk) failed: 
Cannot log in to DBI::ProxyServer: Unexpected EOF from server at 
/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/RPC/PlClient.pm line 83.
 at odbc.p line 11

Cannot log in to DBI::ProxyServer: Unexpected EOF from server at 
/usr/local/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.6.1/RPC/PlClient.pm line 83.
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If I turn off compression in the dbiproxy script and leave compression=gzip in the connect statement, it executes without error.

Thanks for your suggestions, it made me try a few extra things that were educational even if they didn't solve the problem.