Microsoft SQL Server connection

You can 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, you need these connection details:

• Database name
• Hostname or IP address
• Either the Port number or the Instance name. Use the Instance name if the server is configured for dynamic ports.
• Username and password
• 4.5.1 and later Select Use Active Directory if the Microsoft SQL Server has been set up in a domain that uses NTLM (New Technology LAN Manager) authentication. Then enter the name of the domain associated with the username and password
• SSL certificate (if required by the database server)

For Credentials and Certificates, you can use secrets if a vault is configured for the platform and the service supports vaults. For information, see Using secrets from vaults in connections.

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

In a project Click Assets > New asset > Data access tools > Connection. 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 Add to space > Connection. See Adding connections to a deployment space.

In the Platform assets catalog Click New connection. See Adding platform connections.

Next step: Add data assets from the connection

• See Add data from a connection in a project.
• See Add data from a connection in a catalog.

Where you can use this connection

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

Analytics projects

• AutoAI (Watson Machine Learning)
• Cognos Dashboards (Watson Studio)
• Data Refinery (Watson Studio or Watson Knowledge Catalog)
• DataStage (DataStage service)

• Metadata import (Watson Knowledge Catalog). For information about the supported product versions and other prerequisites when connections are based on MANTA Automated Data Lineage for IBM Cloud Pak for Data scanners, see the Lineage Scanner Configuration section in the MANTA Automated Data Lineage on IBM Cloud Pak for Data Installation and Usage Manual. This documentation is available at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/node/6597457.

  For metadata import (lineage), advanced metadata import must be enabled and a MANTA Automated Data Lineage license key must be installed. See Installing Watson Knowledge Catalog and Enabling lineage import.

• Notebooks (Watson Studio). Use the insert-to-code function to get the connection credentials and load the data into a data structure. See Load data from data source connections.
• SPSS Modeler SPSS Modeler service)

Catalogs

• Platform assets catalog
• Other catalogs (Watson Knowledge Catalog)

Data Virtualization service You can connect to this data source from Data Virtualization.

Data discovery and Data quality

• Automated discovery

Microsoft SQL Server setup

Microsoft SQL Server installation

Restriction

Except for NTLM authentication, Windows Authentication is not supported. For other forms of Windows authentication to Microsoft SQL Server, you can create a Generic JDBC connection with the latest Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server. For an example JDBC URL, see Generic JDBC connection.

Running SQL statements

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

Learn more

Microsoft SQL Server documentation

Parent topic: Supported connections