The driver supports Azure Active Directory authentication (Azure AD). Azure AD authentication is an alternative to SQL Server Authentication that allows administrators to centrally manage user permissions to Azure SQL Database data stores. When Azure AD authentication is enabled, all communications to the service are encrypted.
To configure the driver to use Azure AD authentication:
Set the Authentication Method option to 13 (Active Directory Password).
Set the Trust Store connection option to specify the absolute path of the digital certificate file for the root CA certificates. The driver requires these certificates to maintain a secure connection.
Note: For testing purposes, you can disable the truststore requirement by setting the Validate Server Certificate to 0 (disabled). Disabling the Validate Server Certificate option leaves your connection vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks; therefore, it is not recommended for extended use.
Set the Host Name In Certificate option to specify the host name for SSL certificate validation. For example, *.database.windows.net.
Set the User Name option to specify your Active Directory username using the userid@domain.com format.
Set the Password option to specify your Active Directory password.
Specify values for minimum required options for establishing a connection:
Set the Host Name option to specify either the IP address in IPv4 or IPv6 format, or the server name for your Azure server. For example, your_server.database.windows.net.
Set the Port Number option to specify the TCP port of the primary database server that is listening for connections to the database.
Set Database option to specify the name of the database to which you want to connect.
If using data sources, set the Data Source Name to specify the name of your data source.
For example, the following is a DSN-less connection string with only the required options for making a connection using Azure AD authentication:
DRIVER={DataDirect 8.0 SQL Server Wire Protocol};AM=13;DB=SQLSdb1;
HOST=myserver.database.windows.net;HNIC=*.database.windows;PORT=1433;
TS=\<truststore_path>\ca-bundle.crt;VSC=1;UID=test@domain.com;PWD=secret;
The following example demonstrates a data source definition in the odbc.ini file with only the required options for making a connection using Azure AD authentication:
Set the Authentication Method option to 13 (Active Directory Password).