FreeTDS, unixODBC, SUSE Linux -- help!

I have spent days of frustration on this. I have followed the guides
strictly, and googled my errors, and tried the advice in every forum I have
found, all to no avail. Please help! I know my system can communicate with
the server I am trying to reach because I was able to successfully run isql
queries using an EasySoft free trial (software was linked from the freetds
support page). But the trial has expired.


I have tried unixODBC-2.3.0.tar.gz and unixODBC-2.3.1.tar.gz


Steps to install unixODBC:
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#tar -zxvf unixODBC-2.3.1.tar.gz
#cd unixODBC-2.3.1/
#./configure
#make
#make install

all exit codes successful. query installation version, location, and driver:
#odbcinst --version
unixODBC 2.3.0
#which odbcinst
# ls /usr/local/lib/lib*
/usr/local/lib/libct.a             /usr/local/lib/libodbcinst.la
/usr/local/lib/libsybdb.la
/usr/local/lib/libct.la            /usr/local/lib/libodbcinst.so
/usr/local/lib/libsybdb.so
/usr/local/lib/libct.so            /usr/local/lib/libodbcinst.so.1
/usr/local/lib/libsybdb.so.5
/usr/local/lib/libct.so.4          /usr/local/lib/libodbcinst.so.1.0.0
/usr/local/lib/libsybdb.so.5.0.0
/usr/local/lib/libct.so.4.0.0      /usr/local/lib/libodbc.la
/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.a
/usr/local/lib/libodbccr.la        /usr/local/lib/libodbc.so
/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.la
/usr/local/lib/libodbccr.so        /usr/local/lib/libodbc.so.1
/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so
/usr/local/lib/libodbccr.so.1      /usr/local/lib/libodbc.so.1.0.0
/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so.0
/usr/local/lib/libodbccr.so.1.0.0  /usr/local/lib/libsybdb.a
/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so.0.0.0
-----------------------------------------------



-----------------------------------------------
I then followed THIS doc explicitly:
http://www.unixodbc.org/doc/FreeTDS.html
-----------------------------------------------



Here are my conf files (sensitive data replaced with generic):
-----------------------------------------------

#cat /usr/local/etc/odbc.ini
[NICKNAME]
Driver=FreeTDS
Description=mssql driver
Server=hostname.dnssuffix.com
Port=1433
User=domain\username
Password=password
Database=DBNAME


#cat /usr/local/etc/odbcinst.ini
[FreeTDS]
Description=unixODBC driver for freeTDS
Driver=/usr/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so
UsageCount=1


#cat /usr/local/etc/freetds.conf
#   $Id: freetds.conf,v 1.12 2007/12/25 06:02:36 jklowden Exp $
#
# This file is installed by FreeTDS if no file by the same
# name is found in the installation directory.
#
# For information about the layout of this file and its settings,
# see the freetds.conf manpage "man freetds.conf".

# Global settings are overridden by those in a database
# server specific section
[global]
        # TDS protocol version
;       tds version = 4.2

        # Whether to write a TDSDUMP file for diagnostic purposes
        # (setting this to /tmp is insecure on a multi-user system)
;       dump file = /tmp/freetds.log
;       debug flags = 0xffff

        # Command and connection timeouts
;       timeout = 10
;       connect timeout = 10

        # If you get out-of-memory errors, it may mean that your client
        # is trying to allocate a huge buffer for a TEXT field.
        # Try setting 'text size' to a more reasonable limit
        text size = 64512

# A typical Sybase server
[egServer50]
        host = symachine.domain.com
        port = 5000
        tds version = 5.0

# A typical Microsoft server
[egServer70]
        host = ntmachine.domain.com
        port = 1433
        tds version = 7.0

[NICKNAME]
        host = hostname.dnssuffix.com
        port = 1433
        tds version = 7.2
        #have also tried 7.0 , 8.0 , 4.0


-----------------------------------------------


Please help!!!