public static Connection getConnection() {
        Connection conn = null;

        try {
            // Load the database driver
            Class.forName("sun.jdbc.odbc.JdbcOdbcDriver");

            if (_connectionString == null) {
                _connectionString = Functions.getConfigurationValue("connectionString");
            }

            /*
            if (_connectionString == null) {
                _connectionString = "jdbc:sqlserver://195.191.188.6\\D01:50030;databaseName=TSVenera;user=tsvenera;password=tsvenera;";
            }
            */

            if (_connectionString == null) {
                System.out.println("ConnectionString is null");
            }

            // Get a connection to the database
            conn = DriverManager.getConnection(_connectionString);
        } catch (SQLException se) {
            System.out.println("SQL Exception:");

            // Loop through the SQL Exceptions
            while (se != null) {
                System.out.println("State  : " + se.getSQLState());
                System.out.println("Message: " + se.getMessage());
                System.out.println("Error  : " + se.getErrorCode());

                se = se.getNextException();
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println(e);
        }

        return conn;
    }