We have released for general availability Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 3.0. This .NET Data Provider for SQL Server provides general connectivity to the database and supports all the latest SQL Server features for applications targeting .NET Framework, .NET Core, and .NET Standard.
To try out the new package, add a NuGet reference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in your application.
If you've been following our preview releases, you know we've been busy working to add features and improve stability and performance of the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient library.
Some of the highlights of new features in 3.0 over the 2.1 release of Microsoft.Data.SqlClient include:
- Configurable Retry Logic
- Event Counters on .NET Core and .NET Standard
- Azure Identity dependency introduction
- Event tracing improvements in SNI.dll
- Row version null behavior (breaking change)
- Active Directory Default authentication support
- Custom key store provider registration enhancements
- IP Address preference (IPv4 vs IPv6)
There are a few minor breaking changes in 3.0 over previous releases.
- .NET Framework 4.6.1 is the new minimum .NET Framework version supported
- The User Id connection property now requires Client Id instead of Object Id for User-Assigned Managed Identity when using the Active Directory Managed Identity authentication option
- SqlDataReader now returns a DBNull value instead of an empty byte[] for RowVersion/Timestamp values. Legacy behavior can be enabled by setting an AppContext switch.
For the full list of added features, fixes, and changes in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 3.0, please see the Release Notes.
Again, to try out the new package, add a NuGet reference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in your application. If you encounter any issues or have any feedback, head over to the SqlClient GitHub repository and submit an issue.
David Engel
