Microsoft SQL Server Connection Parameters

The following parameters are used by Microsoft SQL Server data sources.
Table 1. Microsoft SQL Server connection parameters

Parameter

Description

Server name

Enter the server name.

If there are multiple instances of Microsoft SQL Server, specify server_name\instance_name.

Database Name

Enter the database name.

Application Name

Enter the application name.

Collation Sequence

Enter the collation sequence to be included in the database connection string.

Collation sequences are required only in rare cases where there may be sorting discrepancies between IBM® Cognos® software and a database.

MARS Connection

Select the Multiple Active Results Set (MARS) connection. This parameter is used only by Microsoft SQL Server (SQL 2005 Native Client or higher).

Click Yes to allow applications to have more than one pending request per connection and more than one active default result set per connection.

Optional Connection Parameters

Enter an optional, a key-value type of a parameter, using the following syntax: param1=value1. Multiple parameters must be delimited by a semicolon, as shown in the following example: param1=value1;param2=value2

Anything that you type for this parameter is appended to the database portion of the connection string.

Tip: The first occurrence of the @ character separates the database portion of the connection string from the IBM Cognos portion of the connection string, except if the @ character is a part of the user ID or password. This does not apply to the dynamic query mode.

Signon

For more information on signon, see Securing data sources.

If no authentication is required, select No authentication.

For more information on IBM Cognos BI, see Authentication Using IBM Cognos Service Credentials.

If you use a Microsoft Active Directory namespace and you want to support single signon, select An external namespace, and select the Active Directory namespace. For more information, see Authentication Using an External Namespace.

If authentication is required, select Signons.

If a user ID and password is required in the connection string, select the User ID check box.

If a password is required, select the Password check box and enter the password in the Password and Confirm password boxes.

You can include database commands in the connection information for this type of data source. For more information, see Passing IBM Cognos Context to a Database.

For information about Microsoft SQL Server (ODBC) connection parameters, see ODBC Data Source Connections.