ODBC Driver for SQL Azure SSL Connection Description - ODBC Driver for SQL Azure

Connecting to SQL Azure Using SSL

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a standard protocol for secure access to a remote machine over untrusted networks. It runs on top of TCP/IP to secure client-server communications by allowing an SSL-enabled client to authenticate itself to an SSL-enabled server and vice versa. During server authentication, an SSL-enabled client application uses standard techniques of public-key cryptography to verify the server's identity by checking that the server's certificate is issued by a trusted certificate authority (CA) and proves the ownership of the public key.

Conversely, SSL client authentication allows the server to validate the client's identity. The client and server can also authenticate each other using self-signed certificates, however, you will almost never want to use a self-signed certificate, except for an Intranet or a development server. After establishing an SSL connection, the client and server can exchange messages that are symmetrically encrypted with the shared secret key. SSL is the recommended method to establish a secure connection to SQL Azure due to easier configuration and higher performance, compared to SSH.

See the SQL Azure documentation for more information on how to configure SSL for an application in Azure and create certificates .

To establish an SSL connection to SQL Azure, enable the Use Encryption for Data option.

SSL Options

Option	Description
Use Encryption for Data	Enables SSL connections.

Sample SSL Connection String

DRIVER={Devart ODBC Driver for SQL Azure};Data Source=TCP:myServer;Initial Catalog=myDatabase;Port=1433;User ID=myLogin;Password=myPassword;Encryption=True