Schema Rowsets - Distributed Query Support
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
To support SQL Server distributed queries, the OLE DB Driver for SQL Server IDBSchemaRowset interface returns metadata on linked servers.
If the DBPROPSET_SQLSERVERSESSION property SSPROP_QUOTEDCATALOGNAMES is VARIANT_TRUE, a quoted identifier can be specified for the catalog name (for example "my.catalog"). When restricting schema rowset output by catalog, the OLE DB Driver for SQL Server recognizes a two-part name containing the linked server and catalog name. For the schema rowsets in the table below, specifying a two-part catalog name as linked_server.catalog restricts output to the applicable catalog of the named linked server.
| Schema rowset | Catalog restriction |
|---|---|
| DBSCHEMA_CATALOGS | CATALOG_NAME |
| DBSCHEMA_COLUMNS | TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_PRIMARY_KEYS | TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_TABLES | TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_FOREIGN_KEYS | PK_TABLE_CATALOG FK_TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_INDEXES | TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_COLUMN_PRIVILEGES | TABLE_CATALOG |
| DBSCHEMA_TABLE_PRIVILEGES | TABLE_CATALOG |
Note
To restrict a schema rowset to all catalogs from a linked server, use the syntax linked_server (where the underscore separator is part of the name specification). This syntax is equivalent to specifying NULL for the catalog name restriction and is also used when the linked server indicates a data source that does not support catalogs.
The OLE DB Driver for SQL Server defines the schema rowset LINKEDSERVERS, returning a list of OLE DB data sources registered as linked servers.
See Also
Schema Rowset Support (OLE DB)
LINKEDSERVERS Rowset (OLE DB)