I'm moving an app that was previously running on windows 10 to a docker container with python3.6 linux base image. One of the necessary changes was changing the driver used in sql connection string from "SQL Server" to ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server, because I have to use unixodbc-dev. I installed msodbcsql17 and mssql-tools via my Dockerfile, and I execute a query via an sqlalchemy engine that retrieves values from a column of sql type "date". With the SQL Server driver, these dates get converted to strings (which is what the code expects), but with ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server, they are returned as dates. I'm using pyodbc==4.0.25 and SQLAlchemy==1.3.5.
The legacy "SQL Server" ODBC driver hasn't been enhanced since SQL Server 2000, long before the newer date data type (and other temporal types) was introduced with SQL Server 2008. The driver will return unrecognized types as strings instead of the native type.
If the native type is a breaking change for the app code, the correct solution is to use proper types in app code and the newer driver. About all you can do is use the legacy driver in the interim.
I am a Database Developer and currently working in SQL Server Technology. I am trying to find out the ODBC driver name based on the installed SQL Server Version. Here is what I mean - Example,
We are using SQLCMD.exe to execute some scripts through our custom MSI. SQLCMD fails if it doesn't find the correct ODBC driver. Hence we need to be able to identify the correct ODBC version based on the SQL version installed, so that we can check this before installation and prompt the user to install the correct ODBC version as a prerequisite.
I have already explored the below -
Windows Registry - I did not get a clear cut idea of how to identify ODBC drivers based on versions. ODBC drivers and SQL Server versions are mentioned at multiple places and either they do not match amongst themselves or with the installed SQL Server Version.
Admistrative Tools -> ODBC Admistrator -> Drivers Tab
SQL Server Version here do give some idea but we are unable to decode odbcad32.exe. Link - https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/check-the-odbc-sql-server-driver-version-windows?view=sql-server-2017
If anyone knows anything then please render help. We need a solution using C# ( recommended ), however, if any other technology then we can have a look for its feasibility.
Thanks in advance.
Windows registry is the best way to go, I'm not sure why you're seeing inconsistencies. There are two main places to look:
For 64bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers
For 32bit: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI\ODBC Drivers
If you want the specific version, you will need to go up a level into the registry keys that have the same name as those listed in ODBC Drivers. For exmaple, under ODBC Drivers you have the key "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server" listed as installed, under ODBCINST.INI you will have a entry called "ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server" where you can find further details.
ODBC driver versions aren't intrinsically linked to the version of SQL installed. It's absolutely possible the ODBC driver has been updated separately, and/or multiple versions are installed.
Our client recently upgraded from TLS 1.0 to TLS 1.2 and after this our software cannot connect with SQL server. It uses OLE DB provider for connecting to SQL server.
Below is the error which is returned from SQL server-
[DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen SECDoClientHandshake()]SSL Security error
SQL State: 08001
SQL Error Number: 18
Could not find any useful information related to whether Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server support TLS 1.2 or not.
One of the links I found seems to suggest that it is not supported.
https://forums.iis.net/t/1233674.aspx?connecing+SQL+server+DB+issue+after+installingTLS1+2+in+SQL+srver+with+classic+asp+application+
Hence, wanted to check on stackoverflow in case anyone has any information on this.
The SQLOLEDB provider and the SQL Server ODBC driver that ship with Windows are legacy components provided only for backwards compatibility. These have been deprecated since SQL 2005.
According to this blog post by the MSSQL Tiger Team:
SQLOLEDB will not receive support for TLS 1.2. You will need to switch
your driver to one of the supported drivers listed in
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3135244
You should be able to install SQL Server Native Client 2012 and use that OLE DB provider with only a connection string change (change Provider=SQLOLEDB to Provider=SQLNCLI11). Of course, once should test to avoid surprises. For example, I recall someone experiencing behavior differences with the SQL Server Native Client provider and ADO classic when server API cursors were used, although the commonly used firehose cursors were fine.
EDIT
The new OLE DB driver, MSOLEDBSQL, has been released. This new driver includes the support for the latest TLS 1.2 standards and is backwards compatible with SQL Server Native Client 11 (SQLNCLI11). See the Microsoft SQLNCLi team blog announcement. Change the connection string to Provider=MSOLEDBSQL after installation.
EDIT #2
Time continues to march on. The SQL Server Native Client OLE DB driver is now deprecated in favor of MSOLEDBSQL. End of support for the final 2012 SNAC version is July 12, 2012.
Furthermore, as David called out in his answer, Microsoft recently added support for TLS 1.2 MDAC components in Windows 10 Build 17763.1554:
Adds support for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.1 and 1.2
protocols when connecting to SQL Server using the data providers in
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
No enhancements (e.g. support for post-SQL 2000 data types) were added, though.
In summary, newer SQL Server client drivers provides more control over the specific driver and version without a direct OS patch level dependency. Modern drivers like MSOLEDBSQL and ODBC Driver n for SQL Server are continuously improved to support latest SQL Server features and security standards.
EDIT#3
SQLOLEDB and the SQL Server ODBC driver (part of MDAC, shipped and serviced with Windows) has support for TLS 1.2 with October 20, 2020 build, version 17763.1554. This applies to Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 or later.
This may not be a solution for you, since it's a future fix your client may not be able to wait for, but apparently Microsoft is undeprecating the OLEDB Driver, with a new release supporting TLS 1.2 out Q1 2018: https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/sqlnativeclient/2017/10/06/announcing-the-new-release-of-ole-db-driver-for-sql-server/
The new Microsoft OLE DB Driver for SQL Server, or msoledbsql, will
also introduce multi-subnet failover capabilities in this first
upcoming release, and keeps up with latest TLS 1.2 standards.
Also, this first upcoming release will be a stand-alone install
package that is out-of-band with SQL Server lifecycle. This also means
the driver will not be packaged in the SNAC library, nor coupled with
any other driver.
TLS 1.2 Support has been added to sqloledb in Windows. See KB4580390.
This includes support both ODBC and OleDB providers in MDAC:
Adds support for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.1 and 1.2
protocols when connecting to SQL Server using the data providers in
Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC)
You can verify that MDAC has been updated by checking the Windows build number, anything 17763.1554 or later has this fix. MDAC has not been distributed outside of OS patches for many years.
The build is visible in winver or in Powershell with [environment]::OSVersion.Version.Build
Following changes on my end fixed the issue after TLS1.2 upgrade on Azure cloud -
change Provider=SQLOLEDB to Provider=SQLNCLI11
update ADODB version to Microsoft ActiveX Data Objects 6.0 Library
The use of "Microsoft OLEDB Driver for SQL Server" is what worked for us but I can also confirm Native Driver 11 also tests OK.
Here was our scenario: after we disabled TLS 1.0 and 1.1 and enabled TLS 1.2, Crystal Reports using the "Microsoft OLEDB Provider for SQL Server" would no longer connect. Instead you get a user/pw prompt that fails with even with valid credentials. In our case we were running Crystal Reports from within an ASP.NET v4.5.2 application that has the Crystal 13 Viewer embedded in. Users pick from a list of reports and run them and they run without a prompt with TLS 1.0 enabled.
To fix this, we had to open the report in the designer and convert it report from using the "Microsoft OLEDB Provider for SQL Server" to using the "Microsoft OLEDB Driver for SQL Server".
If you don't see the driver in your list here's the OLEDB Driver for SQL Server: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/oledb/download-oledb-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15
Credit to Dan Guzman who mentioned the existence of the "driver" in a somewhat buried comment and an update above.
This might not directly answer the question, but it is still related to sql server connection with TLS 1.2 error.
I'm maintaining an old ASP Classic website which broke with following error.
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80004005'
[DBNETLIB][ConnectionOpen (SECDoClientHandshake()).]SSL Security error.
Changing Provider from SQLOLEDB to SQL Server Native Client 11.0 or any higher version which is available fixed the error.
Thus, changing connection string from
constr = "Provider=SQLOLEDB;Data Source=..."
to
constr = "Provider=SQL Server Native Client 11.0;Data Source=...."
might work too
There is a param on ODBC connection strings called Driver.
My old application always used {SQL Driver} and I know there is {SQL Native Client} and others.
My questions are:
What is the difference between these types of Drivers?
When do I should use one or another?
I'm not defining a Provider on my connection. Should I?
What is the best way to configure my connection string?
I'm using SQL Server 2005 Standard
I'm getting this when trying to connect to SQL Server 2008 using Moodle:
4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot
be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7
or earlier.
I changed the version to 8.0 in the ini file, but no luck. Any ideas?
From the Moodle doc:
The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via
TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a
long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new
features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need
them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and
DB-Library :(
My config file was messed up. I was not using version 8.0 of TDS. I have explicitly set it to use 8.0. Since I fixed that, everything works fine.