Choosing Correct Data Provider for Your Application

What is Data Provider?

 

A data provider in the .NET Framework serves as a bridge between an application and a data source. ADO.NET relies on the services of .NET data providers. These provide access to the underlying data source.

 

Currently, ADO.NET ships with two categories of providers: bridge providers and native providers. Bridge providers, such as those supplied for OLE DB and ODBC, allow you to use data libraries designed for earlier data access technologies. Native providers, such as the SQL Server and Oracle providers, typically offer performance improvements due, in part, to the fact that there is one less layer of abstraction.

 

Choosing between Data Providers

 

 

Data Provider	Use when connecting to	Comments
SQL Server .NET Data Provider	Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 or later                                    Microsoft Data Engine (MSDE) from a single-tier application	Found in System.Data.SqlClient namespace                                  Lightweight and fast. Accesses database directly without any intermediate layers
OLE DB .NET Data Provider	Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 or earlier Microsoft Access database in a single-tier application Any other data source exposed using OLE DB	Found in System.Data.OleDb namespace Slightly less efficient since it communicates to OLE DB data source through OLE DB Service Component and OLE DB Provider
.NET Data Provider for Oracle	Oracle data sources	Found in System.Data.OracleClient namespace Supports Oracle client software version 8.1.7 or later Requires Oracle client to be installed on the system
ODBC .NET Data Provider	Data source exposed using ODBC	Found in System.Data.Odbc namespace Slightly less efficient since it communicates to ODBC data source through ODBC Service Component and ODBC Provider

 

 

 

Thanks & Regards,

Arun Manglick

SMTS || Microsoft Technology Practice || Bridgestone - Tyre Link || Persistent Systems || 3023-6258

 

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