SQL Server Client integration reference

To get started with the Aspire SQL Server integrations, follow the Get started with SQL Server integrations guide.

This article includes full details about the Aspire SQL Server Client integration, which allows you to connect to and interact with SQL Server databases from your Aspire consuming projects.

Installation

To get started with the Aspire SQL Server client integration, install the 📦 Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient NuGet package in the client-consuming project, that is, the project for the application that uses the SQL Server client. The SQL Server client integration registers a SqlConnection instance that you can use to interact with SQL Server.

dotnet add package Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Add SQL Server client

In the Program.cs file of your client-consuming project, call the AddSqlServerClient extension method on any IHostApplicationBuilder to register a SqlConnection for use via the dependency injection container. The method takes a connection name parameter.

builder.AddSqlServerClient(connectionName: "database");

You can then retrieve the SqlConnection instance using dependency injection. For example, to retrieve the connection from an example service:

public class ExampleService(SqlConnection connection)
{
    // Use connection...
}

For more information on dependency injection, see .NET dependency injection.

Add keyed SQL Server client

There might be situations where you want to register multiple SqlConnection instances with different connection names. To register keyed SQL Server clients, call the AddKeyedSqlServerClient method:

builder.AddKeyedSqlServerClient(name: "mainDb");
builder.AddKeyedSqlServerClient(name: "loggingDb");

Then you can retrieve the SqlConnection instances using dependency injection. For example, to retrieve the connection from an example service:

public class ExampleService(
    [FromKeyedServices("mainDb")] SqlConnection mainDbConnection,
    [FromKeyedServices("loggingDb")] SqlConnection loggingDbConnection)
{
    // Use connections...
}

For more information on keyed services, see .NET dependency injection: Keyed services.

Properties of the SQL Server resources

When you use the WithReference method to pass a SQL Server server or database resource from the AppHost project to a consuming client project, several properties are available to use in the consuming project.

Aspire exposes each property as an environment variable named [RESOURCE]_[PROPERTY]. For instance, the Uri property of a resource called sqldb becomes SQLDB_URI.

SQL Server server resource

The SQL Server server resource exposes the following connection properties:

Example connection strings:

Uri: mssql://sa:p%40ssw0rd1@localhost:1433
JdbcConnectionString: jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433;trustServerCertificate=true

SQL Server database resource

The SQL Server database resource inherits all properties from its parent SqlServerServerResource and adds:

Example connection strings:

Uri: mssql://sa:p%40ssw0rd1@localhost:1433/catalog
JdbcConnectionString: jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433;trustServerCertificate=true;databaseName=catalog

Configuration

The Aspire SQL Server integration provides multiple options to configure the connection based on the requirements and conventions of your project.

Use a connection string

When using a connection string from the ConnectionStrings configuration section, you can provide the name of the connection string when calling the AddSqlServerClient method:

builder.AddSqlServerClient(connectionName: "sql");

Then the connection string is retrieved from the ConnectionStrings configuration section:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "database": "Data Source=myserver;Initial Catalog=master"
  }
}

For more information on how to format this connection string, see the ConnectionString.

Use configuration providers

The Aspire SQL Server integration supports Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration. It loads the MicrosoftDataSqlClientSettings from configuration by using the Aspire:Microsoft:Data:SqlClient key. The following snippet is an example of a appsettings.json file that configures some of the options:

{
  "Aspire": {
    "Microsoft": {
      "Data": {
        "SqlClient": {
          "ConnectionString": "YOUR_CONNECTIONSTRING",
          "DisableHealthChecks": false,
          "DisableMetrics": true
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

For the complete SQL Server client integration JSON schema, see Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient/ConfigurationSchema.json.

Use inline delegates

Also you can pass the Action<MicrosoftDataSqlClientSettings> configureSettings delegate to set up some or all the options inline, for example to disable health checks from code:

builder.AddSqlServerClient(
    "database",
    static settings => settings.DisableHealthChecks = true);

Client integration health checks

By default, Aspire integrations enable health checks for all services. For more information, see Aspire integrations overview.

The Aspire SQL Server integration:

• Adds the health check when MicrosoftDataSqlClientSettings.DisableHealthChecks is false, which attempts to connect to the SQL Server.
• Integrates with the /health HTTP endpoint, which specifies all registered health checks must pass for app to be considered ready to accept traffic.

Observability and telemetry

Aspire integrations automatically set up Logging, Tracing, and Metrics configurations, which are sometimes known as the pillars of observability. Depending on the backing service, some integrations may only support some of these features. For example, some integrations support logging and tracing, but not metrics. Telemetry features can also be disabled using the techniques presented in the Configuration section.

Logging

The Aspire SQL Server integration currently doesn't enable logging by default due to limitations of the SqlClient.

Tracing

The Aspire SQL Server integration emits the following tracing activities using OpenTelemetry:

• OpenTelemetry.Instrumentation.SqlClient

Metrics

The Aspire SQL Server integration will emit the following metrics using OpenTelemetry:

• Microsoft.Data.SqlClient.EventSource
  • active-hard-connections
  • hard-connects
  • hard-disconnects
  • active-soft-connects
  • soft-connects
  • soft-disconnects
  • number-of-non-pooled-connections
  • number-of-pooled-connections
  • number-of-active-connection-pool-groups
  • number-of-inactive-connection-pool-groups
  • number-of-active-connection-pools
  • number-of-inactive-connection-pools
  • number-of-active-connections
  • number-of-free-connections
  • number-of-stasis-connections
  • number-of-reclaimed-connections