def connect_odbc(conn_str):
    """
    Create a stateful connection with a database.

    An ODBC driver manager program (unixODBC) must be installed with one or
    more functional drivers in order to use this feature.  Please see the `User Guide 
    <https://turi.com/learn/userguide/data_formats_and_sources/odbc_integration.html>`_
    for more details.

    Parameters
    ----------
    conn_str : str
        A standard ODBC connection string.

    Returns
    -------
    out : graphlab.extensions._odbc_connection.unity_odbc_connection

    Examples
    --------
    >>> db = graphlab.connect_odbc("DSN=my_awesome_dsn;UID=user;PWD=mypassword")
    """
    from .. import extensions
    from .. import connect as _mt
    db = extensions._odbc_connection.unity_odbc_connection()
    db._construct_from_odbc_conn_str(conn_str)
    _mt._get_metric_tracker().track('connect_odbc', properties={'dbms_name':
        db.dbms_name, 'dbms_version': db.dbms_version})
    return db
