Microsoft SQL Server connection

Create a connection asset for Microsoft SQL Server.

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system.

Supported versions

Microsoft SQL Server 2000+
Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Desktop Engine (MSDE 2000)
Microsoft SQL Server 7.0

Create a connection to Microsoft SQL Server

To create the connection asset, specify these connection details:

Database name You don't have to specify the database. With no database specified, you can import metadata from every database that is available for that connection.
Hostname or IP address
Port number or Instance name If the server is configured for dynamic ports, use the Instance name.
Username and password
Domain name If the Microsoft SQL Server has been set up in a domain that uses NTLM (New Technology LAN Manager) authentication, select Use Active Directory and enter the name of the domain that is associated with the username and password.
SSL certificate If required by the database server.

For Private connectivity, to connect to a database that is not externalized to the internet (for example, behind a firewall), you must set up a secure connection.

Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform

In a project: Click Assets > New asset > Connect to a data source. See Adding a connection to a project.
In a catalog: Click Add to catalog > Connection. See Adding a connection asset to a catalog.
In a deployment space: Click Import assets > Data access > Connection. See Adding data assets to a deployment space.
In the Platform assets catalog: Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.

Next step: Add data assets from the connection

Where you can use this connection

You can use Microsoft SQL Server connections in the following workspaces and tools:

Projects

Cognos Dashboards (Cognos Dashboard Embedded service)
Data quality rules (IBM Knowledge Catalog)
Data Refinery (watsonx.ai Studio or IBM Knowledge Catalog)
DataStage (DataStage service). For more information, see Connecting to a data source in DataStage.
Decision Optimization (watsonx.ai Studio and watsonx.ai Runtime)
Metadata enrichment (IBM Knowledge Catalog)
Metadata import (IBM Knowledge Catalog)
Notebooks (watsonx.ai Studio). Click Read data on the Code snippets pane to get the connection credentials and load the data into a data structure. For more information, see Load data from data source connections.
SPSS Modeler (watsonx.ai Studio)

Catalogs

Platform assets catalog
Other catalogs (IBM Knowledge Catalog)

Data lineage

Metadata import (lineage) (IBM Knowledge Catalog and Manta Data Lineage)

Watson Query service: You can connect to this data source from Watson Query.

Microsoft SQL Server setup

Microsoft SQL Server installation

Restriction

Except for NTLM authentication, Windows Authentication is not supported.

Running SQL statements

To ensure that your SQL statements run correctly, refer to the Transact-SQL Reference for the correct syntax.

Learn more

Parent topic: Supported connections