The SqlClient team is moving forward with continuous updates and improvements to the Microsoft.Data.SqlClient data provider for SQL Server. Our plan is to provide GA releases twice a year with two preview releases in between. This cadence should provide time for feedback and allow us to deliver features and fixes in a timely manner. This first 2.1 preview includes several fixes and changes over the previous 2.0 GA release, including Active Directory Device Code Flow authentication and now supporting Always Encrypted with secure enclave directly against the .NET Standard 2.1 target.
For the full list of changes in Microsoft.Data.SqlClient 2.1 Preview 1, please see the Release Notes.
To try out the new package, add a NuGet reference to Microsoft.Data.SqlClient in your application and pick the 2.1 preview 1 version.
We appreciate the time and effort you spend checking out our previews. It makes the final product that much better. If you encounter any issues or have any feedback, head over to the SqlClient GitHub repository and submit an issue.
David Engel
