For faster performance, use the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server or the SQL Server Native Client provider to connect to a SQL Server data source instead of the .NET Data Provider for SQL Server (SqlClient)

This rule analyzes defined data sources to determine whether a data source uses a native SQL OLE DB provider instead of a .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB.

Best Practices Recommendations

Because the Analysis Services runtime is written in native code, native OLE DB providers offer performance benefits over the .NET Framework Data Providers. When you use the .NET Framework Data Providers, data has to be marshaled between the managed memory space of the .NET Framework and the native memory space. Because native OLE DB providers are already in native code, they provide significant performance benefits over the .NET Framework Data Providers and should be used whenever possible.

For best performance, you should typically define data sources by using the Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server or the SQL Server Native Client Provider whenever possible.

For More Information

For more information about supported OLE DB providers, see Working with Data Sources in SQL Server Books Online.

For more information about performance issues related to OLE DB providers, see the section, "Optimizing the query source," in the SQL Server 2005 Analysis Services Performance Guide.