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Microsoft SQL Server Connections

Note

This feature may not be available in all product editions. For more information on available features, see Compare Editions.

You can create connections to one or more Microsoft SQL Server databases from the Alteryx Analytics Cloud.

Tip

You can create connections to databases of this type that are managed by your enterprise or are hosted in cloud infrastructure. The required configuration is the same. The cloud-based version is labeled on Amazon RDS. In the Create Connection dialog, you can search for that term.

If you are connecting the Alteryx Analytics Cloud to any relational source of data, you must add the Alteryx Service to your whitelist for those resources. See Whitelist Platform Service.

Supported Versions: The product uses the 11.2 JDBC driver for SQL Server-based connection types. For more information, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/jdbc/microsoft-jdbc-driver-for-sql-server-support-matrix?view=sql-server-ver16#sql-version-compatibility.

  • Read: Supported

  • Write: Supported

Configure

To create this connection:

  • In the Import Data page, click the Plus sign. Then, select the Relational tab. Click the Microsoft SQL Server card.

  • You can also create connections through the Connections page. See Connections Page.

Modify the following properties as needed:

Property

Description

Host

Enter your hostname. Example:

testsql.database.windows.net

Port

Set this value to 1433.

Enable SSL

Select the checkbox to enable SSL connections to the database. (Optional)

Connect String options

Insert any additional connection parameters, if needed. See below.

User Name

(basic credential type only) Username to use to connect to the database.

Password

(basic credential type only) Password associated with the above username.

Test Connection

After you have defined the connection credentials type, credentials, and connection string, you can validate those credentials.

Advanced options: Default Column Data Type Inference

Set todisabledto prevent the platformfrom applying its own type inference to each column on import. The default value isenabled.

Advanced options: Enable SSH Tunneling

If available, the SSH tunneling options allow you to configure SSH tunneling authentication between the Trifacta Application and your database.

Note

SSH tunneling is available on a per-connection basis. It may not be available for all connections.

For more information, see Configure SSH Tunnel Connectivity.

Connection Name

Display name of the connection

Connection Description

Description of the connection, which appears in the application.

Connection URL

The properties that you provide are inserted into the following URL, which connects Alteryx Analytics Cloud to the connection:

jdbc:sqlserver://<host>:<port>;<prop1>=<val1>;<prop2>=<val2>
Connect string options

The connect string options are optional. If you are passing additional properties and values to complete the connection, the connect string options must be structured in the following manner:

;<prop1>=<val1>;<prop2>=<val2>...

where:

  • <prop> : the name of the property

  • <val> : the value for the property

delimiters:

  • ; : any set of connect string options must begin and end with a semi-colon.

  • = : property names and values must be separated with an equal sign (=).

Example connect string options

The following connect string contains several options. Please insert as a single string (no line breaks):

;database=<database_name>;encrypt=true;trustServerCertificate=false;
hostNameInCertificate=*.database.windows.net;loginTimeout=30;

Common connect string properties:

Property

Description

database

Set this value to <database_name>, the name of the database to which to connect.

encrypt

Set this value to true. Encrypted communication is required.

trustServerCertificate

When set to true, the Alteryx Analytics Cloud does not validate the SQL Server TLS/SSL certificate. Default value is false.

hostNameInCertificate

Defines the host name in the server certificate.

Note

Do not modify this value unless required.

loginTimeout

Number of seconds that the Alteryx Analytics Cloud attempts to login to the database server. Default is 30.

Delimiters:

  • ; : any set of connect string options must begin and end with a semi-colon.

  • ; : all additional property names must be prefixed with a semi-colon.

  • = : property names and values must be separated with an equal sign (=).

Authentication options

Driver Information

This connection uses the following driver:

Create via API

This connection can also be created using the API.

  • Type: jdbc

  • Vendor: sqlserver

For more information, see Designer Cloud Powered by Trifacta: API Reference docs

Troubleshooting

Error message

Description

“The TCP/IP connection to the host <hostname>, port <port> has failed”

The host is not accessible.Please verify that the correct IP addresses have been whitelisted on the SQL Server instance. See Whitelist Platform Service.

"Login failed for user'<username>'."

Permission denied. Please verify your credentials.

Tip

Click the Test Connection button to check the connection credentials.

"The certificate received from the remote server was issued by an untrusted certificate authority"

There was an issue with the trusted certificate on the SQL Server instance.

To disable validation of the certificate, add the following to the connection string options:

;trustServerCertificate=true;

Use

SQL Syntax

The following syntax requirements apply to this connection.

Object delimiter: none

Example syntax:

SELECT "column1","column2" FROM "databaseName"."tableName";

For more information on SQL in general, see Supported SQL Syntax.

For more information, see Database Browser.

Data Conversion

For more information on how values are converted during input and output with this database, see SQL Server Data Type Conversions.

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