Why you should avoid ODBC?
It is our recommendation to use JDBC drivers over ODBC drivers with Pentaho software. You should only use ODBC, when there is no JDBC driver available for the desired data source.
ODBC connections use the JDBC-ODBC bridge that is bundled with Java, and has performance impacts and can lead to unexpected behaviors with certain data types or drivers. Additionally, deploying ODBC connections require additional configuration in the Operating System, where JDBC settings are stored natively in Pentaho.
The JDBC-ODBC bridge driver was removed in Java 8, preventing ODBC drivers from being usable in newer versions of Pentaho or other Java-based applications.
Please contact your Database Administrator or Database Vendor for the correct JDBC driver for your database.