Once you've added the Microsoft SQL Server data source, you can [configure it](#configure-the-data-source) so that your Grafana instance's users can create queries in its [query editor]({{< relref "./query-editor" >}}) when they [build dashboards][build-dashboards] and use [Explore][explore].
| **Name** | Sets the name you use to refer to the data source in panels and queries. |
| **Default** | Sets the data source that's pre-selected for new panels. |
| **Host** | Sets the IP address/hostname and optional port of your MS SQL instance. Default port is 0, the driver default. You can specify multiple connection properties, such as `ApplicationIntent`, by separating each property with a semicolon (`;`). |
| **Database** | Sets the name of your MS SQL database. |
| **Authentication** | Sets the authentication mode, either using SQL Server Authentication or Windows Authentication (single sign-on for Windows users). |
| **User** | Defines the database user's username. |
| **Password** | Defines the database user's password. |
| **Encrypt** | Determines whether or to which extent a secure SSL TCP/IP connection will be negotiated with the server. Options include: `disable` - data sent between client and server is not encrypted; `false` - data sent between client and server is not encrypted beyond the login packet; `true` - data sent between client and server is encrypted. Default is `false`. |
| **Max open** | Sets the maximum number of open connections to the database. Default is `100`. |
| **Max idle** | Sets the maximum number of connections in the idle connection pool. Default is `100`. |
| **Auto (max idle)** | If set will set the maximum number of idle connections to the number of maximum open connections (Grafana v9.5.1+). Default is `true`. |
| **Max lifetime** | Sets the maximum number of seconds that the data source can reuse a connection. Default is `14400` (4 hours). |
The **Min time interval** setting defines a lower limit for the [`$__interval`][add-template-variables-interval] and [`$__interval_ms`][add-template-variables-interval_ms] variables.
The **Connection timeout** setting defines the maximum number of seconds to wait for a connection to the database before timing out. Default is 0 for no timeout.
Grafana doesn't validate that a query is safe, and could include any SQL statement.
For example, Microsoft SQL Server would execute destructive queries like `DELETE FROM user;` and `DROP TABLE user;` if the querying user has permission to do so.
To protect against this, we strongly recommend that you create a specific MS SQL user with restricted permissions.
Grant only `SELECT` permissions on the specified database and tables that you want to query to the database user you specified when you added the data source:
```sql
CREATE USER grafanareader WITH PASSWORD 'password'
GRANT SELECT ON dbo.YourTable3 TO grafanareader
```
Also, ensure that the user doesn't have any unwanted privileges from the public role.
### Diagnose connection issues
If you use older versions of Microsoft SQL Server, such as 2008 and 2008R2, you might need to disable encryption before you can connect the data source.
We recommend that you use the latest available service pack for optimal compatibility.
### Provision the data source
You can define and configure the data source in YAML files as part of Grafana's provisioning system.
