Which driver should I choose for ODBC connect from Windows 10 => SQL Server 2014

Question

What driver to use for ODBC connection from Windows 10 host to SQL Server 2014? I have a choice of 3 SQL Server clients:

• ODBC Client 11
• SQL Server
• SQL Server Native Client.

I've tried the ODBC client and the native client they both seem to work.

Is there any reason to prefer one over the others?

Answer 1

I would suggest to use Native SQL Server client. SQL Server Native Client is one technology that you can use to access data in a SQL Server database.

From : When to Use SQL Server Native Client

For new applications, if you're using a managed programming language such as Microsoft Visual C# or Visual Basic, and you need to access the new features in SQL Server, you should use the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server, which is part of the .NET Framework.

If you are developing a COM-based application and need to access the new features introduced in SQL Server, you should use SQL Server Native Client. If you don't need access to the new features of SQL Server, you can continue to use Windows Data Access Components (WDAC).

Answer 2

Found this post after doing some research on SQL ODBC drivers for a business user today and wanted to clarify. The SQL native client is not supported beyond 2012. The new hotness (in your case) is the MS ODBC driver 11 for SQL server. However, both SNAC11 and ODBC11 should work just fine for you.

MS - "ODBC Driver 11 for SQL Server contains new features as well as all the features that shipped with ODBC in SQL Server 2012 Native Client."

The "SQL Server" driver in ODBC drivers (SNAC6) is obviously very very old

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms131321(v=sql.120).aspx

Answer 3

Use the SQL Server Native Client. It will support all the features of SQL Server 2014. The other drivers may not.