Microsoft SQL Server ODBC Driver

The Most Reliable, Best Performing SQL Server ODBC Driver

Wire Protocol vs. Classic Architecture
SQL Server ODBC Driver
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The Progress DataDirect Connect for ODBC driver for Microsoft SQL Server delivers the best performance and scalability for applications connecting to Microsoft SQL Server. One SQL Server ODBC driver simultaneously supports SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008. The Connect Platinum ODBC driver is available for UNIX and Linux platforms as well as Microsoft Windows and for 64 bit ODBC connectivity.

Try it now – Download SQL Server ODBC Driver.

DataDirect's unique wire protocol SQL Server ODBC driver eliminates the need to connect to the database through components on the database server. This single-tier architecture results in better response time and throughput and reduces the cost of deploying and maintaining applications.

BENEFITS
FEATURES
COMPETITIVE COMPARISON

Improves the performance and scalability of your applications	DataDirect ODBC drivers are proven to out-perform competitive drivers, demonstrating marked improvement in response time, throughput, and scalability of your Microsoft SQL Server applications. The wire protocol architecture of the Microsoft ODBC SQL Server driver, as well as easy-to-use tuning options, optimizes the rate and efficiency of data transfer. In addition, a high-performance Bulk Load capability enables large amounts of data to be loaded very quickly.
Reduces the cost and time of deploying and maintaining applications	DataDirect's wire protocol architecture eliminates the need for additional components on the database server for connectivity. One install contains everything needed to connect to any SQL Server instance. This greatly simplifies deployment and eliminates connectivity issues associated with different versions of SQL Server and its service packs.
Provides comprehensive coverage from one vendor	DataDirect offers a SQL Server ODBC driver on every major platform – Windows (including v7), Linux and UNIX, including UNIX platforms such as IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris, across a wide range of processor architectures. We also offer a 64 bit ODBC wire protocol driver for SQL Server so your 64-bit applications can take full advantage of faster processing speeds.
Makes it easy and cost effective to support multiple databases / database versions	One DataDirect SQL Server ODBC driver supports simultaneous connections to Microsoft SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008, which significantly reduces the costs of deploying and testing applications. This also allows you to consolidate critical business applications onto a single platform. In addition, DataDirect drivers boast numerous interoperability features that simplify the task of supporting other databases in addition to Microsoft SQL Server, such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, MySQL, and more.
Reinforces your security strategy	DataDirect drivers include advanced, industry standard security mechanisms such as SSL data encryption and operating system authentication via Kerberos.
Ensures high availability	DataDirect's SQL Server ODBC driver completely manages application failover and balancing of work load without requiring changes to application code or costly server configurations or database clustering technologies.
Guarantees quality and reliability	DataDirect drivers are quality tested and certified with a wide variety of applications and environments and are proven in hundreds of leading commercial software products and thousands of the most demanding corporate environments.
Reduces total cost of ownership through superior technical support	In contrast to database vendors and other third-party vendors, DataDirect award-winning support is focused exclusively on data connectivity and includes 24x7 phone, web, email, forum, and an extensive knowledgebase. Resolving data connectivity issues quickly reduces the total cost of ownership of software.

DataDirect features are 100% driver implemented, allowing you to leverage them quickly, without changes to application code or proprietary SQL Server extensions.

Performance

Wire protocol architecture
Easy-to-use tuning options and automatic driver tuning via Performance Wizard
Bulk Load
Load balancing
Built-in debugging capabilities
Enterprise-quality driver logging
Advanced Connection Pooling
Statement pooling
Data conversion
Socket management
Network wire management
Batching and throughput optimization

Comprehensive Database / Platform Coverage

Windows, UNIX and Linux
One driver supports simultaneous connections to SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008
64 bit ODBC driver for SQL Server available

Security

Operating system authentication (aka Single Sign-On) via Kerberos
SSL data encryption

Enterprise Application Functionality

Application failover
Windows ODBC Driver Manager for Unix/Linux
Unicode and ANSI character sets
Stored procedures

Interoperability

Interoperability including SQL up-leveling, which simplifies the task of supporting other databases in addition to SQL Server, such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, MySQL, and more
Common architecture across drivers makes it easy to support different databases

Quality and Reliability

Quality tested and certified with the DataDirect ODBC Verification Suite (OVS), the largest, most mature ODBC testing infrastructure
100% ODBC specification compliance – leverage SQL Server functionality without proprietary extensions or code

Additional SQL Server ODBC Driver Functionality

Stored procedures
Scalar and catalog functions
Parameter arrays
Data type conversions
SQL Server 2008 features:
- Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)
- Database Compression New data types
- New Scalar functions and SQL constructs
- FILESTREAM data type attribute
Named Instances support – Allows applications to specify a particular installation of SQL Server
Support for SQL Server 2005 data types such as: Varbinary(max), Varchar(max), and XML
Support for SQL Server Unicode data types: Nchar, Nvarchar, Ntext, and Nvarchar(max)
Support for the SQL Server 2005 transaction isolation levels: Snapshot, Read Committed with Snapshots, and Read Committed with Locks
Supports the ability to execute a single SQL statement using multiple rows of values
Keyset and dynamic cursor types
Named Parameters

Advantages of DataDirect Driver	Limitations of Microsoft Driver
Best ODBC driver performance Outperforms other drivers because it's optimized to communicate directly with SQL Server using the TDS protocol. Connection tuning options make it easy to tune the driver for maximum performance across a wide variety of application scenarios.	Microsoft's focus is not on ODBC access and therefore their ODBC driver is limited in terms of performance and in the ways that it can be tuned.
UNIX/Linux support Over 10 years ago, DataDirect licensed the source code for the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server to port it to non-Windows platforms. Since that time, DataDirect has leveraged this knowledge and experience to develop the most functionally advanced ODBC driver for SQL Server for platforms such as UNIX and Linux. DataDirect offers an ODBC driver for SQL Server on every major platform – Windows (including v7), Linux and UNIX, including UNIX platforms such as IBM AIX, HP-UX, and Sun Solaris, across a wide range of processor architectures. In addition, DataDirect distributes its own ODBC Driver Manager, the industry's most widely deployed driver manager for UNIX and Linux platforms, with every installation.	Microsoft's platform support for its own driver is limited to Windows. As a result, Microsoft licenses DataDirect's SQL Server ODBC driver for use with its applications that deploy on UNIX and Linux.
One driver supports multiple versions of SQL Server Supports simultaneous connections to SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008, which significantly reduces the costs of deploying and testing applications. This also allows you to consolidate critical business applications onto a single platform.	Microsoft requires different drivers to support SQL Server 2000, 2005, and 2008. Applications that must access multiple versions of SQL Server must account for differences in these drivers to avoid exposing unexpected behavior to users.
Bulk Load Includes a high-performance bulk load capability for loading large amounts of data into SQL Server the fastest way possible. You can use DataDirect Bulk Load within existing applications without the need for application code changes, an additional bulk load tool from Microsoft.	Requires deploying Microsoft's bulk load tool, bcp, which is slower than DataDirect Bulk Load and restricts the platform support of bulk load to Windows-only. In addition, proprietary application code changes and data input formats are required to invoke this command-line tool.
Advanced security features Our drivers include industry-standard security mechanisms: SSL data encryption to secure the integrity of your data and provide client/server authentication Operating system authentication via Kerberos or NTLM, allowing you to include database access in a Single Sign-On environment.	Microsoft's support for these security features is limited to applications deployed on Windows only.
Application failover and load balancing The driver completely manages application failover, disaster recovery, and balancing of work load without requiring changes to application code or database configuration.	Microsoft doesn't offer support for failover and load balancing in their driver.
Reliability for demanding production environments Quality tested and certified with a wide variety of applications and environments using the DataDirect ODBC Verification Suite (OVS), the largest, most mature ODBC testing infrastructure. More mission-critical applications depend on DataDirect for reliable data access than on any other vendor's software.	Microsoft's testing infrastructure for data connectivity is unknown.
Complete interoperability between databases SQL Up-leveling and other interoperability features such as standard escape syntax make it easy and cost-effective for an application to support multiple databases (SQL Server, Oracle, DB2, Sybase, and more). Applications can access different relational databases with less code and less maintenance, ensuring consistent functionality and behavior regardless of the database.	Interoperability is not provided because the Microsoft driver is designed to work only with SQL Server. Organizations that need to access more than SQL Server will be forced to use drivers from different vendors, requiring a learning curve to account for the proprietary feature support of each one.
Comprehensive Technical Support Focused on database connectivity, our award-winning support includes 24x7 phone, web, email, forum, and an extensive knowledgebase. Superior technical support is essential to resolve data connectivity issues quickly, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership of software.	Because Microsoft is not focused primarily on data connectivity, troubleshooting will be more difficult and take longer.