Connecting to MS SQL with Perl

I have the task of connecting to a database to write a little application to aid with patch documentation. The problem is that I am writing this on Linux and have to connect to a Microsoft SQL server. I followed a lot of guides, and tried many things and found out I was failing because of a firewall. Once I solved the firewall problem, I had no problem connecting.

I used unixODBC, FreeTDS, and some Perl modules (DBI, DBD::ODBC). I made a cut-and-paste guide just in case I ever have to do this again.

Connect Perl to MSSQL