Connection string for SQL Server native client in ASP.NET web.config

Question

I want to connect to SQL Server 2012 using SQL Server native client from my ASP.NET application. Currently, I have one existing connection string connect using odbc and working fine.

<appSettings>
    <add key="StagingConnect" 
         value="Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=Staging;Data Source=AUBDSG01.AUYA.NET\INST1"/>
</appSettings>

When I tried as below, the code throws an exception

<add key="StagingConnect"  
     value="Provider=SQLNCLI11;Integrated Security=True;Initial Catalog=Staging;Data Source=AUBDSG01.AUYA.NET\INST1"/>

Exception:

System.Web.HttpUnhandledException (0x80004005): Exception of type 'System.Web.HttpUnhandledException' was thrown.

System.ArgumentException: Keyword not supported: 'provider'.
at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions.ParseInternal(Hashtable parsetable, String connectionString, Boolean buildChain, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean firstKey)
at System.Data.Common.DbConnectionOptions..ctor(String connectionString, Hashtable synonyms, Boolean useOdbcRules)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionString..ctor(String connectionString)
at System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnectionOptions(String connectionString, DbConnectionOptions previous)
at System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory

How can I modify this connection string so that it should connect through SQL Server native client 11

Answer 1

Not sure exactly how you have it working before because my connection string doesn't go in <appSettings> it goes in a separate <connectionStrings> section. And providerName is an element, not part of the string itself.

Here is an example

  <connectionStrings>
    <clear />
    <add name="xxx" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" connectionString="Server=(local);Database=yyy;User=zzz;Password=123;MultipleActiveResultSets=True" />
  </connectionStrings>

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The first connection string is not an ODBC connection string, it is an SqlClient connection string.

The second connection string is an Ole Db connection string the uses SQL Server Native Client. But your stack trace shows that you are using SqlClient to connect to SQL Server.

You cannot use SqlClient and SQL Native client at the same time to connect to SQL Server. To use Native Client you have two options:

• Use ODBC. (System.Data.Odbc)
• Use OLEDB. (System.Data.OleDb)

You can use SqlClient and TLS1.2 as per the following Microsoft Support article:

• TLS 1.2 support for Microsoft SQL Server