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Using Connection String Keywords with SQL Server Native Client

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Some SQL Server Native Client APIs use connection strings to specify connection attributes. Connection strings are lists of keyword and associated values; each keyword identifies a particular connection attribute.

Please note! SQL Server Native Client allows ambiguity in connection strings to maintain backward compatibility (for example, some keywords may be specified more than once, and conflicting keywords may be allowed with resolution based on position or precedence). Future releases of SQL Server Native Client might not allow ambiguity in connection strings. It is good practice when modifying applications to use SQL Server Native Client to eliminate any dependency on connection string ambiguity.

The following sections describe the keywords that can be used with the SQL Server Native Client OLE DB provider, the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver, and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) when using SQL Server Native Client as the data provider.

ODBC Driver Connection String Keywords

ODBC applications use connection strings as a parameters to the SQLDriverConnect and SQLBrowseConnect functions.

Connection strings used by ODBC have the following syntax:

connection-string ::= empty-string[;] | attribute[;] | attribute; connection-string

empty-string ::=

attribute ::= attribute-keyword=[{]attribute-value[}]

attribute-value ::= character-string

attribute-keyword ::= identifier

Attribute values can optionally be enclosed in braces, and it is good practice to do so. This avoids problems when attribute values contain non-alphanumeric characters. The first closing brace in the value is assumed to terminate the value, so values cannot contain closing brace characters.

The following table describes the keywords that may be used with an ODBC connection string.

Keyword Description
Addr Synonym for "Address".
Address The network address of the server running an instance of SQL Server. Address is usually the network name of the server, but can be other names such as a pipe, an IP address, or a TCP/IP port and socket address.

If you specify an IP address, make sure that the TCP/IP or named pipes protocols are enabled in SQL Server Configuration Manager.

The value of Address takes precedence over the value passed to Server in ODBC connection strings when using SQL Server Native Client. Also note that Address=; will connect to the server specified in the Server keyword, whereas Address= ;, Address=.;, Address=localhost;, and Address=(local); all cause a connection to the local server.

The complete syntax for the Address keyword is as follows:

[protocol:]Address[,port |\pipe\pipename]

protocol can be tcp (TCP/IP), lpc (shared memory), or np (named pipes). For more information about protocols, see Configure Client Protocols.

If neither protocol nor the Network keyword is specified, SQL Server Native Client will use the protocol order specified in SQL Server Configuration Manager.

port is the port to connect to, on the specified server. By default, SQL Server uses port 1433.
AnsiNPW When "yes", the driver uses ANSI-defined behaviors for handling NULL comparisons, character data padding, warnings, and NULL concatenation. When "no", ANSI defined behaviors are not exposed. For more information about ANSI NPW behaviors, see Effects of ISO Options.
APP Name of the application calling SQLDriverConnect (optional). If specified, this value is stored in the master.dbo.sysprocesses column program_name and is returned by sp_who and the APP_NAME functions.
ApplicationIntent Declares the application workload type when connecting to a server. Possible values are ReadOnly and ReadWrite. For example: ApplicationIntent=ReadOnly

The default is ReadWrite. For more information about SQL Server Native Client's support for Always On Availability Groups, see SQL Server Native Client Support for High Availability, Disaster Recovery.
AttachDBFileName Name of the primary file of an attachable database. Include the full path and escape any \ characters if using a C character string variable:

AttachDBFileName=c:\\MyFolder\\MyDB.mdf

This database is attached and becomes the default database for the connection. To use AttachDBFileName you must also specify the database name in either the SQLDriverConnect DATABASE parameter or the SQL_COPT_CURRENT_CATALOG connection attribute. If the database was previously attached, SQL Server does not reattach it; it uses the attached database as the default for the connection.
AutoTranslate When "yes", ANSI character strings sent between the client and server are translated by converting through Unicode to minimize problems in matching extended characters between the code pages on the client and the server.

Client SQL_C_CHAR data sent to a SQL Server char, varchar, or text variable, parameter, or column is converted from character to Unicode using the client ANSI code page (ACP), then converted from Unicode to character using the ACP of the server.

SQL Server char, varchar, or text data sent to a client SQL_C_CHAR variable is converted from character to Unicode using the server ACP, then converted from Unicode to character using the client ACP.

These conversions are performed on the client by the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver. This requires that the same ANSI code page (ACP) used on the server be available on the client.

These settings have no effect on the conversions that occur for these transfers:

- Unicode SQL_C_WCHAR client data sent to char, varchar, or text on the server.
- char, varchar, or text server data sent to a Unicode SQL_C_WCHAR variable on the client.
- ANSI SQL_C_CHAR client data sent to Unicode nchar, nvarchar, or ntext on the server.
- Unicode nchar, nvarchar, or ntext server data sent to an ANSI SQL_C_CHAR variable on the client.

When "no", character translation is not performed.

The SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver does not translate client ANSI character SQL_C_CHAR data sent to char, varchar, or text variables, parameters, or columns on the server. No translation is performed on char, varchar, or text data sent from the server to SQL_C_CHAR variables on the client.

If the client and SQL Server are using different ACPs, extended characters may be misinterpreted.
Database Name of the default SQL Server database for the connection. If Database is not specified, the default database defined for the login is used. The default database from the ODBC data source overrides the default database defined for the login. The database must be an existing database unless AttachDBFileName is also specified. If AttachDBFileName is also specified, the primary file it points to is attached and given the database name specified by Database.
Driver Name of the driver as returned by SQLDrivers. The keyword value for the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver is "{SQL Server Native Client 11.0}". The Server keyword is required if Driver is specified and DriverCompletion is set to SQL_DRIVER_NOPROMPT.

For more information about driver names, see Using the SQL Server Native Client Header and Library Files.
DSN Name of an existing ODBC user or system data source. This keyword overrides any values that might be specified in the Server, Network, and Address keywords.
Encrypt Specifies whether data should be encrypted before sending it over the network. Possible values are "yes" and "no". The default value is "no".
Fallback This keyword is deprecated, and its setting is ignored by the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver.
Failover_Partner Name of the failover partner server to be used if a connection cannot be made to the primary server.
FailoverPartnerSPN The SPN for the failover partner. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, driver-generated SPN.
FileDSN Name of an existing ODBC file data source.
Language SQL Server language name (optional). SQL Server can store messages for multiple languages in sysmessages. If connecting to a SQL Server with multiple languages, Language specifies which set of messages are used for the connection.
MARS_Connection Enables or disables multiple active result sets (MARS) on the connection. Recognized values are "yes" and "no". The default is "no".
MultiSubnetFailover Always specify multiSubnetFailover=Yes when connecting to the availability group listener of a SQL Server availability group or a SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance. multiSubnetFailover=Yes configures SQL Server Native Client to provide faster detection of and connection to the (currently) active server. Possible values are Yes and No. For example:

MultiSubnetFailover=Yes

The default is No. For more information about SQL Server Native Client's support for Always On Availability Groups, see SQL Server Native Client Support for High Availability, Disaster Recovery.
Net Synonym for "Network".
Network Valid values are dbnmpntw (named pipes) and dbmssocn (TCP/IP).

It is an error to specify both a value for the Network keyword and a protocol prefix on the Server keyword.
PWD The password for the SQL Server login account specified in the UID parameter. PWD need not be specified if the login has a NULL password or when using Windows Authentication (Trusted_Connection = yes).
QueryLog_On When "yes", logging long-running query data is enabled on the connection. When "no", long-running query data is not logged.
QueryLogFile Full path and file name of a file to use to log data on long-running queries.
QueryLogTime Digit character string specifying the threshold (in milliseconds) for logging long-running queries. Any query that does not get a response in the time specified is written to the long-running query log file.
QuotedId When "yes", QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS is set ON for the connection, SQL Server uses the ISO rules regarding the use of quotation marks in SQL statements. When no, QUOTED_IDENTIFIERS is set OFF for the connection. SQL Server then follows the legacy Transact-SQL rules regarding the use of quotation marks in SQL statements. For more information, see Effects of ISO Options.
Regional When "yes", the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver uses client settings when converting currency, date, and time data to character data. The conversion is one way only; the driver does not recognize non-ODBC standard formats for date strings or currency values within; for example, a parameter used in an INSERT or UPDATE statement. When "no", the driver uses ODBC standard strings to represent currency, date, and time data that is converted to character data.
SaveFile Name of an ODBC data source file into which the attributes of the current connection are saved if the connection is successful.
Server The name of a SQL Server instance. The value must be either the name of a server on the network, an IP address, or the name of a SQL Server Configuration Manager alias.

The Address keyword overrides the Server keyword.

You can connect to the default instance on the local server by specifying one of the following:

- Server=;
- Server=.;
- Server=(local);
- Server=(localhost);
- Server=(localdb)\ instancename ;

For more information about LocalDB support, see SQL Server Native Client Support for LocalDB.

To specify a named instance of SQL Server, append \InstanceName.

When no server is specified, a connection is made to the default instance on the local computer.

If you specify an IP address, make sure that the TCP/IP or named pipes protocols are enabled in SQL Server Configuration Manager.

The complete syntax for the Server keyword is as follows:

Server=[protocol:]Server[,port]

protocol can be tcp (TCP/IP), lpc (shared memory), or np (named pipes).

The following is an example of specifying a named pipe:

np:\\.\pipe\MSSQL$MYINST01\sql\query

This line specifies named pipe protocol, a named pipe on the local machine (\\.\pipe), the name of the SQL Server instance (MSSQL$MYINST01), and the default name of the named pipe (sql/query).

If neither a protocol nor the Network keyword is specified, SQL Server Native Client will use the protocol order specified in SQL Server Configuration Manager.

port is the port to connect to, on the specified server. By default, SQL Server uses port 1433.

Spaces are ignored at the beginning of the value passed to Server in ODBC connection strings when using SQL Server Native Client.
ServerSPN The SPN for the server. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, driver-generated SPN.
StatsLog_On When "yes", enables the capture of SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver performance data. When "no", SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver performance data is not available on the connection.
StatsLogFile Full path and file name of a file used to record SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver performance statistics.
Trusted_Connection When "yes", instructs the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver to use Windows Authentication Mode for login validation. Otherwise instructs the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver to use a SQL Server username and password for login validation, and the UID and PWD keywords must be specified.
TrustServerCertificate When used with Encrypt, enables encryption using a self-signed server certificate.
UID A valid SQL Server login account. UID need not be specified when using Windows Authentication.
UseProcForPrepare This keyword is deprecated, and its setting is ignored by the SQL Server Native Client ODBC Driver.
WSID The workstation ID. Typically, this is the network name of the computer on which the application resides (optional). If specified, this value is stored in the master.dbo.sysprocesses column hostname and is returned by sp_who and the HOST_NAME function.

Regional conversion settings apply to currency, numeric, date, and time data types. The conversion setting is only applicable to output conversion and is only visible when currency, numeric, date, or time values are converted to character strings.

The SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver uses the locale registry settings for the current user. The driver does not honor the current thread's locale if the application sets it after connection by, for example, calling SetThreadLocale.

Altering the regional behavior of a data source can cause application failure. An application that parses date strings, and expects date strings to appear as defined by ODBC, could be adversely affected by altering this value.

OLE DB Provider Connection String Keywords

There are two ways OLE DB applications can initialize data source objects:

  • IDBInitialize::Initialize

  • IDataInitialize::GetDataSource

In the first case, a provider string can be used to initialize connection properties by setting the property DBPROP_INIT_PROVIDERSTRING in the DBPROPSET_DBINIT property set. In the second case, an initialization string can be passed to IDataInitialize::GetDataSource method to initialize connection properties. Both methods initialize the same OLE DB connection properties, but different sets of keywords are used. The set of keywords used by IDataInitialize::GetDataSource is at minimum the description of properties within the initialization property group.

Any provider string setting that has a corresponding OLE DB property set to some default value or explicitly set to a value, the OLE DB property value will override the setting in the provider string.

Boolean properties set in provider strings via DBPROP_INIT_PROVIDERSTRING values are set using the values "yes" and "no". Boolean properties set in initialization strings using IDataInitialize::GetDataSource are set using the values "true" and "false".

Applications using IDataInitialize::GetDataSource can also use the keywords used by IDBInitialize::Initialize but only for properties that do not have a default value. If an application uses both the IDataInitialize::GetDataSource keyword and the IDBInitialize::Initialize keyword in the initialization string, the IDataInitialize::GetDataSource keyword setting is used. It is strongly recommended that applications do not use IDBInitialize::Initialize keywords in IDataInitialize:GetDataSource connection strings, as this behavior may not be maintained in future releases.

Note: A connection string passed through IDataInitialize::GetDataSource is converted into properties and applied via IDBProperties::SetProperties. If component services found the property description in IDBProperties::GetPropertyInfo, this property will be applied as a stand-alone property. Otherwise, it will be applied through DBPROP_PROVIDERSTRING property. For example, if you specify connection string Data Source=server1;Server=server2, Data Source will be set as a property, but Server will go into a provider string.

If you specify multiple instances of the same provider-specific property, the first value of the first property will be used.

Connection strings used by OLE DB applications using DBPROP_INIT_PROVIDERSTRING with IDBInitialize::Initialize have the following syntax:

connection-string ::= empty-string[;] | attribute[;] | attribute; connection-string

empty-string ::=

attribute ::= attribute-keyword=[{]attribute-value[}]

attribute-value ::= character-string

attribute-keyword ::= identifier

Attribute values can optionally be enclosed in braces, and it is good practice to do so. This avoids problems when attribute values contain non-alphanumeric characters. The first closing brace in the value is assumed to terminate the value, so values cannot contain closing brace characters.

A space character after the = sign of a connection string keyword will be interpreted as a literal, even if the value is enclosed in quotation marks.

The following table describes the keywords that may be used with DBPROP_INIT_PROVIDERSTRING.

Keyword Initialization property Description
Addr SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKADDRESS Synonym for "Address".
Address SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKADDRESS The network address of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Address ODBC keyword, later in this topic.
APP SSPROP_INIT_APPNAME The string identifying the application.
ApplicationIntent SSPROP_INIT_APPLICATIONINTENT Declares the application workload type when connecting to a server. Possible values are ReadOnly and ReadWrite.

The default is ReadWrite. For more information about SQL Server Native Client's support for Always On Availability Groups, see SQL Server Native Client Support for High Availability, Disaster Recovery.
AttachDBFileName SSPROP_INIT_FILENAME The name of the primary file (include the full path name) of an attachable database. To use AttachDBFileName, you must also specify the database name with the provider string Database keyword. If the database was previously attached, SQL Server does not reattach it (it uses the attached database as the default for the connection).
Auto Translate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Synonym for "AutoTranslate".
AutoTranslate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Configures OEM/ANSI character translation. Recognized values are "yes" and "no".
Database DBPROP_INIT_CATALOG The database name.
DataTypeCompatibility SSPROP_INIT_DATATYPECOMPATIBILITY Specifies the mode of data type handling to use. Recognized values are "0" for provider data types and "80" for SQL Server 2000 data types.
Encrypt SSPROP_INIT_ENCRYPT Specifies whether data should be encrypted before sending it over the network. Possible values are "yes" and "no". The default value is "no".
FailoverPartner SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNER The name of the failover server used for database mirroring.
FailoverPartnerSPN SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNERSPN The SPN for the failover partner. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Language SSPROPT_INIT_CURRENTLANGUAGE The SQL Server language.
MarsConn SSPROP_INIT_MARSCONNECTION Enables or disables multiple active result sets (MARS) on the connection if the server is SQL Server 2005 or later. Possible values are "yes" and "no". The default value is "no".
Net SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKLIBRARY Synonym for "Network".
Network SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKLIBRARY The network library used to establish a connection to an instance of SQL Server in the organization.
Network Library SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKLIBRARY Synonym for "Network".
PacketSize SSPROP_INIT_PACKETSIZE Network packet size. The default is 4096.
PersistSensitive DBPROP_AUTH_PERSIST_SENSITIVE_AUTHINFO Accepts the strings "yes" and "no" as values. When "no", the data source object is not allowed to persist sensitive authentication information
PWD DBPROP_AUTH_PASSWORD The SQL Server login password.
Server DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE The name of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

When not specified, a connection is made to the default instance on the local computer.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Server ODBC keyword, in this topic.
ServerSPN SSPROP_INIT_SERVERSPN The SPN for the server. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Timeout DBPROP_INIT_TIMEOUT The amount of time (in seconds) to wait for data source initialization to complete.
Trusted_Connection DBPROP_AUTH_INTEGRATED When "yes", instructs the SQL Server Native Client OLE DB provider to use Windows Authentication Mode for login validation. Otherwise instructs the SQL Server Native Client OLE DB provider to use a SQL Server username and password for login validation, and the UID and PWD keywords must be specified.
TrustServerCertificate SSPROP_INIT_TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE Accepts the strings "yes" and "no" as values. The default value is "no", which means that the server certificate will be validated.
UID DBPROP_AUTH_USERID The SQL Server login name.
UseProcForPrepare SSPROP_INIT_USEPROCFORPREP This keyword is deprecated, and its setting is ignored by the SQL Server Native Client OLE DB Provider.
WSID SSPROP_INIT_WSID The workstation identifier.

Connection strings used by OLE DB applications using IDataInitialize::GetDataSource have the following syntax:

connection-string ::= empty-string[;] | attribute[;] | attribute; connection-string

empty-string ::=

attribute ::= attribute-keyword=[quote]attribute-value[quote]

attribute-value ::= character-string

attribute-keyword ::= identifier

quote ::= " | '

Property use must conform to the syntax permitted in its scope. For example, WSID uses curly braces ({}) quotation characters and Application Name uses single (') or double (") quotation characters. Only string properties can be quoted. Attempting to quote an integer or enumerated property will result in a "Connection String does not conform to OLE DB specification" error.

Attribute values can optionally be enclosed in single or double quotes, and it is good practice to do so. This avoids problems when values contain non-alphanumeric characters. The quote character used can also appear in values, provided that it is doubled.

A space character after the = sign of a connection string keyword will be interpreted as a literal, even if the value is enclosed in quotation marks.

If a connection string has more than one of the properties listed in the following table, the value of the last property will be used.

The following table describes the keywords that may be used with IDataInitialize::GetDataSource:

Keyword Initialization property Description
Application Name SSPROP_INIT_APPNAME The string identifying the application.
Application Intent SSPROP_INIT_APPLICATIONINTENT Declares the application workload type when connecting to a server. Possible values are ReadOnly and ReadWrite.

The default is ReadWrite. For more information about SQL Server Native Client's support for Always On Availability Groups, see SQL Server Native Client Support for High Availability, Disaster Recovery.
Auto Translate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Synonym for "AutoTranslate".
AutoTranslate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Configures OEM/ANSI character translation. Recognized values are "true" and "false".
Connect Timeout DBPROP_INIT_TIMEOUT The amount of time (in seconds) to wait for data source initialization to complete.
Current Language SSPROPT_INIT_CURRENTLANGUAGE The SQL Server language name.
Data Source DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE The name of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

When not specified, a connection is made to the default instance on the local computer.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Server ODBC keyword, later in this topic.
DataTypeCompatibility SSPROP_INIT_DATATYPECOMPATIBILITY Specifies the mode of data type handling to use. Recognized values are "0" for provider data types and "80" for SQL Server 2000 data types.
Failover Partner SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNER The name of the failover server used for database mirroring.
Failover Partner SPN SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNERSPN The SPN for the failover partner. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Initial Catalog DBPROP_INIT_CATALOG The database name.
Initial File Name SSPROP_INIT_FILENAME The name of the primary file (include the full path name) of an attachable database. To use AttachDBFileName, you must also specify the database name with the provider string DATABASE keyword. If the database was previously attached, SQL Server does not reattach it (it uses the attached database as the default for the connection).
Integrated Security DBPROP_AUTH_INTEGRATED Accepts the value "SSPI" for Windows Authentication.
MARS Connection SSPROP_INIT_MARSCONNECTION Enables or disables multiple active result sets (MARS) on the connection. Recognized values are "true" and "false". The default is "false".
Network Address SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKADDRESS The network address of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Address ODBC keyword, later in this topic.
Network Library SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKLIBRARY The network library used to establish a connection to an instance of SQL Server in the organization.
Packet Size SSPROP_INIT_PACKETSIZE Network packet size. The default is 4096.
Password DBPROP_AUTH_PASSWORD The SQL Server login password.
Persist Security Info DBPROP_AUTH_PERSIST_SENSITIVE_AUTHINFO Accepts the strings "true" and "false" as values. When "false", the data source object is not allowed to persist sensitive authentication information
Provider For SQL Server Native Client, this should be "SQLNCLI11".
Server SPN SSPROP_INIT_SERVERSPN The SPN for the server. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Trust Server Certificate SSPROP_INIT_TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE Accepts the strings "true" and "false" as values. The default value is "false", which means that the server certificate will be validated.
Use Encryption for Data SSPROP_INIT_ENCRYPT Specifies whether data should be encrypted before sending it over the network. Possible values are "true" and "false". The default value is "false".
User ID DBPROP_AUTH_USERID The SQL Server login name.
Workstation ID SSPROP_INIT_WSID The workstation identifier.

Note In the connection string, the "Old Password" property sets SSPROP_AUTH_OLD_PASSWORD, which is the current (possibly expired) password that is not available via a provider string property.

ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) Connection String Keywords

ADO applications set the ConnectionString property of ADODBConnection objects or supply a connection string as a parameter to the Open method of ADODBConnection objects.

ADO applications can also use the keywords used by the OLE DB IDBInitialize::Initialize method, but only for properties that do not have a default value. If an application uses both the ADO keywords and the IDBInitialize::Initialize keywords in the initialization string, the ADO keyword setting will be used. It is strongly recommended that applications only use ADO connection string keywords.

Connection strings used by ADO have the following syntax:

connection-string ::= empty-string[;] | attribute[;] | attribute; connection-string

empty-string ::=

attribute ::= attribute-keyword=["]attribute-value["]

attribute-value ::= character-string

attribute-keyword ::= identifier

Attribute values can optionally be enclosed in double quotes, and it is good practice to do so. This avoids problems when values contain non-alphanumeric characters. Attribute values cannot contain double quotes.

The following table describes the keywords that may be used with an ADO connection string:

Keyword Initialization property Description
Application Intent SSPROP_INIT_APPLICATIONINTENT Declares the application workload type when connecting to a server. Possible values are ReadOnly and ReadWrite.

The default is ReadWrite. For more information about SQL Server Native Client's support for Always On Availability Groups, see SQL Server Native Client Support for High Availability, Disaster Recovery.
Application Name SSPROP_INIT_APPNAME The string identifying the application.
Auto Translate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Synonym for "AutoTranslate".
AutoTranslate SSPROP_INIT_AUTOTRANSLATE Configures OEM/ANSI character translation. Recognized values are "true" and "false".
Connect Timeout DBPROP_INIT_TIMEOUT The amount of time (in seconds) to wait for data source initialization to complete.
Current Language SSPROPT_INIT_CURRENTLANGUAGE The SQL Server language name.
Data Source DBPROP_INIT_DATASOURCE The name of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

When not specified, a connection is made to the default instance on the local computer.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Server ODBC keyword, in this topic.
DataTypeCompatibility SSPROP_INIT_DATATYPECOMPATIBILITY Specifies the mode of data type handling that will be used. Recognized values are "0" for provider data types and "80" for SQL Server 2000 data types.
Failover Partner SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNER The name of the failover server used for database mirroring.
Failover Partner SPN SSPROP_INIT_FAILOVERPARTNERSPN The SPN for the failover partner. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Initial Catalog DBPROP_INIT_CATALOG The database name.
Initial File Name SSPROP_INIT_FILENAME The name of the primary file (include the full path name) of an attachable database. To use AttachDBFileName, you must also specify the database name with the provider string DATABASE keyword. If the database was previously attached, SQL Server does not reattach it (it uses the attached database as the default for the connection).
Integrated Security DBPROP_AUTH_INTEGRATED Accepts the value "SSPI" for Windows Authentication.
MARS Connection SSPROP_INIT_MARSCONNECTION Enables or disables multiple active result sets (MARS) on the connection if the server is SQL Server 2005 or later. Recognized values are "true" and "false".The default is "false".
Network Address SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKADDRESS The network address of an instance of SQL Server in the organization.

For more information about valid address syntax, see the description of the Address ODBC keyword, in this topic.
Network Library SSPROP_INIT_NETWORKLIBRARY The network library used to establish a connection to an instance of SQL Server in the organization.
Packet Size SSPROP_INIT_PACKETSIZE Network packet size. The default is 4096.
Password DBPROP_AUTH_PASSWORD The SQL Server login password.
Persist Security Info DBPROP_AUTH_PERSIST_SENSITIVE_AUTHINFO Accepts the strings "true" and "false" as values. When "false" the data source object is not allowed to persist sensitive authentication information.
Provider For SQL Server Native Client, this should be "SQLNCLI11".
Server SPN SSPROP_INIT_SERVERSPN The SPN for the server. The default value is an empty string. An empty string causes SQL Server Native Client to use the default, provider-generated SPN.
Trust Server Certificate SSPROP_INIT_TRUST_SERVER_CERTIFICATE Accepts the strings "true" and "false" as values. The default value is "false", which means that the server certificate will be validated.
Use Encryption for Data SSPROP_INIT_ENCRYPT Specifies whether data should be encrypted before sending it over the network. Possible values are "true" and "false". The default value is "false".
User ID DBPROP_AUTH_USERID The SQL Server login name.
Workstation ID SSPROP_INIT_WSID The workstation identifier.

Note In the connection string, the "Old Password" property sets SSPROP_AUTH_OLD_PASSWORD, which is the current (possibly expired) password that is not available via a provider string property.

See Also

Building Applications with SQL Server Native Client