NTWDBLIB.DLL is not loadable

Question

When I run the SQL Server Client Network Utility, the DB-Library Options show the ntwdblib.dll as not loadable.And the service is legacy which has to use the same ntwdblib.dll and can't afford to use latest/different sql library. Does anyone know why the utility no longer recognizes this dll?

Answer 1

I have now investigated this a little more. As I see it, there are two problems:

1. Getting NTWDBLIB.DLL to run at all.
2. Connecting to Azure SQL Database.

I mainly tested with ISQL, the old-command line tool from SQL 6.5 days. I found that I could get it to run on Windows 11 if I copied NTWDBLIB.DLL and MSVCR71.DLL from av VM running Windows 2000.

So far so good, but I was not able to get connection to Azure SQL Database to work. From ISQL I did not get any messages, it just came back silently. I also have an old Perl module based on DB-Library, and here I got "Login failed for ...".

If you want to run SQL Server in Azure, you could consider an Azure SQL VM. I made a quick test and I was able to connect to SQL Server on an Azure SQL VM, but that was over a public IP address, something which you should not use.

Answer 2

DB-Library is very old and mouldy and has been deprecated since the release of SQL 7. No surprise if it has fallen out of fashion entirely.

And the SQL Servre Client Network Utility - I have heard about that one since the days of SQL 2000.

What operating system and which version of SQL Server are you using?