Connect from .NET

The driver is Microsoft.Data.SqlClient, encryption is on by default, pooling is automatic, and since version 7.0 Microsoft Entra authentication needs a second package reference that nothing in the connection string hints at.

Measured 2026-09-03 on Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 7.0.2, Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.Extensions.Azure 7.0.2 and .NET SDK 8.0.421, with the commands in Check it worked.

Encryption doctrine, retry and pool sizing are the same in every language and live in connect-to-azure-sql. Entity Framework Core is ef-core-azure-sql.

The packages

dotnet add package Microsoft.Data.SqlClient