Microsoft SQLNCli team blog

We have moved!

Pam Lahoud — Fri, 29 Mar 2019 18:28:43 GMT

Thanks for visiting! This blog has now been migrated to: https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/SQL-Server/bg-p/SQLServer/label-name/SQLServerDrivers

We are moving!

Pam Lahoud — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 18:30:45 GMT

This blog is in the process of being migrated to one of the new consolidated SQL Server and Azure SQL Database blogs on the Microsoft TechCommunity website. Once the migration is complete, we will post the new URL along with instructions for how to navigate the new blog and update your RSS feeds. Until then, feel free to keep reading here, but keep in mind that any comments that are added may not make it over to the new blog. You will be able to re-post them there once we are live. Stay tuned and see you on the new site soon!

OLE DB Driver 18.2 for SQL Server Released

David-Engel — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:04:59 GMT

We are pleased to announce the release of version 18.2 of the Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server! This general availability release brings a couple of new features:

Features added

Support for UTF-8 server encoding For more information, see the documentation for UTF-8 Support in OLE DB Driver for SQL Server
Support for Azure Active Directory authentication via username and password, integrated, or AccessToken authentication For more information, see the documentation for Using Azure Active Directory.

The updated driver can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.

ODBC Driver 17.3 for SQL Server Released

David-Engel — Fri, 22 Feb 2019 00:02:37 GMT

We are pleased to announce an update to the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server! Version 17.3 is generally available and brings a few added features and several fixed issues.

Added

Support for XA distributed transactions
Support for streaming input parameters against Always Encrypted columns
Support for SUSE 15, Ubuntu 18.10, and macOS 10.14

Fixed

This release also contains the following fixed issues:

Fix for tcp send notification event handle memory leak
Fix redefinition issue of enum _SQL_FILESTREAM_DESIRED_ACCESS in msodbcsql.h header file
Fix missing ACCESS_TOKEN and AUTHENTICATION related definition in msodbcsql.h header file for Linux and MAC

Next steps

For Windows installations, you can download version 17.3 of the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server from the Microsoft Download Center. Linux and macOS packages are also being uploaded and will be available soon. For installation details on those platforms see the online instructions for installing the Microsoft ODBC Driver for SQL Server.

ODBC Driver 17.3 (Preview) for SQL Server Released

David-Engel — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 14:23:33 GMT

We are pleased to announce a technical preview of version 17.3 of the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server! Version 17.3 (Preview) brings several fixes and a couple of added features.

Added

Support for XA distributed transactions
Support for streaming input parameters against Always Encrypted columns

Fixed

This release also contains the following fixed issues:

TCP send notification event handle memory leak
Redefinition issue of enum _SQL_FILESTREAM_DESIRED_ACCESS in msodbcsql.h header file
Missing ACCESS_TOKEN and AUTHENTICATION related definition in msodbcsql.h header file for Linux

Next steps

For Windows and Linux installations, you can download the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17.3 (Preview) for SQL Server here.

Roadmap

We are committed to improving quality and bringing more feature support for connecting to SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL DW, and Azure SQL Managed Instance through regular driver releases. We invite you to explore the latest the Microsoft Data Platform has to offer via a trial of Microsoft Azure SQL Database or by evaluating Microsoft SQL Server. David Engel

ODBC Driver 17.2 for SQL Server Released

David-Engel — Wed, 11 Jul 2018 17:50:53 GMT

We are pleased to announce an update to the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server! Version 17.2 brings a few added features and several fixed issues.

Added

Support for Data Discovery and Classification information on Azure SQL Database and SQL Server
Support for UTF-8 server encoding
Support for Ubuntu 18.04
Idle Connection Resiliency support has been extended to Linux and macOS
- The ConnectRetryCount and ConnectRetryInterval keywords can be specified in the connection string
  - Use SQL_COPT_SS_CONNECT_RETRY_COUNT(read only) to retrieve the number of connection retry attempts
  - Use SQL_COPT_SS_CONNECT_RETRY_INTERVAL(read only) to retrieve the length of the connection retry interval
  - Connections will be retried once by default
SQLBrowseConnect is now supported on Linux and macOS
On Linux and macOS, dynamic dependency on libcurl:
- Starting with version 17.2, the libcurl package is not an explicit package dependency. The libcurl package for OpenSSL or NSS is required when using Azure Key Vault or Azure Active Directory authentication. If you encounter an error regarding libcurl, ensure it is installed.

Fixed

This release also contains the following fixed issues:

Fixed an error message about Azure Active Directory Authentication
Fixed encoding detection when locale environment variables are set differently
Fixed a crash upon disconnect when connection recovery is in progress
Fixed detection of connection liveness
Fixed incorrect detection of closed sockets
Fixed an infinite wait when attempting to release a statement handle during a failed recovery
Fixed incorrect uninstallation behavior when both version 13 and 17 are installed on Windows
Fixed incorrect decryption behavior on older Windows platforms (Windows 7, 8 and Server 2012)
Fixed a cache issue when using ADAL Authentication on Windows
Fixed an issue which was locking and overwriting trace logs on Windows

Next steps

For Windows installations, you can download version 17.2 of the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server here. Linux and macOS packages are also available. For installation details see the online instructions.

Roadmap

Released: Update to Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server

David-Engel — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 18:31:27 GMT

We are pleased to announce the release of version 18.1 of Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server! This release contains a couple of updates to the previous release: Features added:

Support for UseFMTONLY connection string keyword and SSPROP_INIT_USEFMTONLY initialization property. UseFMTONLY controls how metadata is retrieved when connecting to SQL Server 2012 (11.x) and newer. For more information, see:
- Using Connection String Keywords with OLE DB Driver for SQL Server

Bugs fixed:

Fixed incorrect version of the BCP format file. The OLE DB Driver 18.0 incorrectly sets the version of the BCP format file to 18.0 instead of 11.0. Format files generated by the OLE DB Driver 18.0 cannot be read by the OLE DB Driver 18.1. If you need to use format files generated by the previous version of the driver with the new driver, you can manually edit the files to change the version to 11.0.

The updated driver can be downloaded from the existing download page on the Microsoft Download Center. David Engel

ODBC Driver 17.1 for SQL Server Released

David-Engel — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 23:53:35 GMT

We are pleased to announce an update to the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server! Version 17.1 brings a couple of added features and several fixed issues.

Added

Support for SQL_COPT_SS_CEKCACHETTL and SQL_COPT_SS_TRUSTEDCMKPATHS connection attributes
Azure Active Directory Interactive Authentication Support

Fixed

This release also contains the following fixed issues:

Fixed 1-second delay when calling SQLFreeHandle with MARS enabled and connection attribute "Encrypt=yes"
Fixed an error 22003 crash in SQLGetData when the size of the buffer passed in is smaller then the data being retrieved (Windows)
Fixed truncated ADAL error messages
Fixed a rare bug on 32-bit Windows when converting a floating point number to an integer
Fixed an issue where inserting double into decimal field with Always Encrypted on would no return data truncation error
Fixed a warning on MacOS installer
Fixed sending incorrect state to SQL Server during Session Recovery attempt when Connection Resiliency and Connection Pooling both are enabled, causing session to be dropped by the Server

Next steps

For Windows installations, you can download version 17.1 of the Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server here. Linux and macOS packages are also available. For installation details see the online instructions.

Roadmap

We are committed to improving quality and bringing more feature support for connecting to SQL Server, Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL DW through regular driver releases. We invite you to explore the latest the Microsoft Data Platform has to offer via a trial of Microsoft Azure SQL Database or by evaluating Microsoft SQL Server. David Engel

Released: Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server

Pedro Lopes (PL) — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 20:55:06 GMT

We are pleased to announce the release of the Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server, as we had previously announced! This new driver follows the same release model as all the other SQL Server drivers, which means that it’s maintained out-of-band with the SQL Server Database Engine lifecycle. You can download the new driver here. The new Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server is the 3^rd generation of OLE DB Drivers for SQL Server, introduces multi-subnet failover capabilities, and keeps up with the existing feature set of SQL Server Native Client (SNAC) 11*, including the latest TLS 1.2 standards. As such, backwards compatibility with applications currently using SNAC 11 is maintained in this new release. This new Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server (msoledbsql) supports connectivity to SQL Server (versions 2012 to 2017), Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL Data Warehouse. Also, keep in mind SNAC OLE DB (sqlncli) and MDAC/WDAC OLE DB (sqloledb) continues to be deprecated. For more information, refer to the page OLE DB Driver for SQL Server. As part of the new release, OLE DB documentation was also reviewed and updated, available in OLE DB Driver for SQL Server Programming. * Note that SNAC 11 does not support features released with SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2016 that were not available as part of SQL Server 2012, such as Transparent Network IP Resolution, Always Encrypted, Azure AD Authentication, Bulk Copy and Table Value Parameters.

To use the new driver in existing applications, you should plan to convert your connection strings from sqlncli or sqloledb, to msoledbsql. For example, for a trusted connection using SQL Native Client (SNAC11), plan to convert from: Provider=SQLNCLI11; Server=myServerName\theInstanceName;Database=myDataBase; Trusted_Connection=yes; to: Provider=MSOLEDBSQL; Server=myServerName\theInstanceName; Database=myDataBase; Trusted_Connection=yes; For a trusted connection using the MDAC/WDAC OLE DB Provider for SQL Server, plan to convert from: Provider=sqloledb; Data Source=myServerName\theInstanceName; Initial Catalog=myDataBase; Integrated Security=SSPI; to: Provider=MSOLEDBSQL; Server=myServerName\theInstanceName; Database=myDataBase; Trusted_Connection=yes; Pedro Lopes (@SQLPedro) – Senior Program Manager

Finding which TLS version is in use for client connections

Pedro Lopes (PL) — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 02:30:22 GMT

How can you tell what version of TLS is currently used for client connections? Simple question we’ve been asked as we prepare to ship the new OLE DB driver.

Starting with SQL Server 2016 SP1, and SQL Server 2012 SP4, the Trace xEvent (Debug channel) exposes the TLS/SSL protocol that's used by the client. If a TLS/SSL negotiation is completed successfully, information such as the TLS/SSL protocol, cipher, hash, and peer address is returned. If the negotiation fails, only the IP address of the client is returned.

You can also refer to KB 3191296 for information. Note this will also be available in a future SQL Server 2014 Service Pack.

For more information on configuring SQL Server to use TLS1.2, as well as a list of known issues, refer to KB 3135244.

Pedro Lopes (@sqlpto) – Senior Program Manager