Connecting to MS SQL Server

Prerequisite Software

No software is needed in order to access a SQL Server server. The necessary ODBC Driver is present in the standard Windows install.

Configuring the Connection to SQL Server

The general process for configuring an ODBC datasource is described in Configuring a Database Connection.

To configure a SQL Server datasource, specify:

• Name. The name you give this ODBC datasource.
• Description. Not used. Leave blank.
• Server. The hostname or IP address of the machine on which the SQL Server server resides. Specify localhost or (local) if the server is on your own PC.
• Authentication. This window allows you specify whether you connect to SQL Server specifying a user-id/password, or for SQL Server to automatically use your LAN identity. The latter option (Windows NT authentication) appears only to work if your PC is part of a Domain. If you are using a Workgroup, this option will not work.
• Client Settings. In most cases you will not have to change these. If your SQL Server server is using a port other than the default (1433) you will need to change it here.
• Change the default database to. Use this option if you wish to specify the database to connect to. If not specified, you will be connected to the database which is defined as your default database.
• Other options. The remainder of the options should not be changed from the default values

It is recommended that you click on Test Data Source to test that your connection has been configured correctly.