Connect to a dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW) in Azure Synapse Analytics with SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

• Power BI
• Azure Machine Learning
• Visual Studio
• sqlcmd
• SSMS

Use SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to connect to and query a dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW).

Prerequisites

To use this tutorial, you need:

• An existing dedicated SQL pool. To create one, see Create a dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW).
• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) installed. Download SSMS for free if you don't already have it.
• The fully qualified SQL server name. To find this information, see Dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW).

1. Connect to your dedicated SQL pool (formerly SQL DW)

1. Open SSMS.

2. Open Object Explorer by selecting File > Connect Object Explorer.

   

3. Fill in the fields in the Connect to Server window.

   

   • Server name. Enter the server name previously identified.
   • Authentication. Select SQL Server Authentication or Active Directory Integrated Authentication.
   • User Name and Password. Enter user name and password if SQL Server Authentication was selected above.
   • Click Connect.

4. To explore, expand your Azure SQL server. You can view the databases associated with the server. Expand AdventureWorksDW to see the tables in your sample database.

   

2. Run a sample query

Now that a connection has been established to your database, let's write a query.

1. Right-click your database in SQL Server Object Explorer.

2. Select New Query. A new query window opens.

   

3. Copy the following T-SQL query into the query window:

   SELECT COUNT(*) FROM dbo.FactInternetSales;
   

4. Run the query by clicking Execute or use the following shortcut: F5.

   

5. Look at the query results. In this example, the FactInternetSales table has 60398 rows.

   

Next steps

Now that you can connect and query, try visualizing the data with Power BI. To configure your environment for Microsoft Entra authentication, see Authenticate to dedicated SQL pool.