Run away as fast as you can from this. It could open up big security holes. It sounds like they don't know what they're doing.

However, if you still want to go with them and they use Java, there is a JDBC driver available that for both Unix and Linux.

>A third party software supplier, who do not use SQL Server have asked me to tell them if they can gain access to my installed SQL Server 2000 system by reading and writing data on a numbered TCP/IP port....
>
>They come from a non-Microsoft background. I told them in the first place that I would need a COM-compliant API in order to pass data in or out of the database. However their eyes glazed over..
>
>Does anyone know if this sort of thing can be achieved?
>
>TIA,
>Simon