[Mapserver-users] SDE Direct Connect

[Liz Godwin]

Hello,

Is it possible to connect directly to SDE through mapserver, or only to
the the sde service?  I have tried playing with the connection string in
my map file, but to no avail.  

I have heard that a direct connection is faster than a service
connection, that is why I would like to try this.

In the SDE config/tuning guide for Oracle, it suggests I use
"sde:oracle" as my service, instead of "esri_sde " for a direct
connection.
My connection string in my map file: 
"<hostname>,sde:oracle,<database>,<user>,<password>"  (all <parameters>
filled in)
My error:  msSDELayerOpen(): SDE error. SE_connection_create(): The
file path does not exist, or is too long (> 512 chars), or has invalid
characters.. (-269)

This error suggests to me that the SDE handler in Mapserver doesn't
like the colon.  Is this a bug, or is it just not possible for a direct
connection?

Thanks!!

Liz Godwin