Azure SQL Database client integration

The Aspire Azure SQL Database client integration is used to connect to an Azure SQL database using Microsoft.Data.SqlClient. To get started with the Aspire Azure SQL Database client integration, install the 📦 Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient NuGet package.

.NET CLI

.NET CLI — Add Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient package

dotnet add package Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Program.cs (C# file-based app)

Program.cs

#:package Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient@*

PackageReference (*.csproj)

XML — Add Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient package reference

<PackageReference Include="Aspire.Microsoft.Data.SqlClient" Version="*" />

For an introduction to working with the Azure SQL Database client integration, see Get started with the Azure SQL Database integration.

Add SQL Server client

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

builder.AddSqlServerClient(connectionName: "database");

Consejo

The connectionName parameter must match the name used when adding the SQL database resource in the AppHost project.

After adding the SqlConnection, you can retrieve the connection instance using dependency injection:

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

For more information, see:

• Microsoft.Data.SqlClient documentation for examples on using the SqlConnection.
• Dependency injection in .NET for details on dependency injection.

Properties of the Azure SQL Database resources

When you use the WithReference method to pass an Azure SQL 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 Host property of a resource called database becomes DATABASE_HOST.

Azure SQL Server

The Azure SQL Server resource exposes the following connection properties:

Property Name	Description
Host	The server fully qualified domain name
Port	The SQL Server port (default: 1433)
Uri	The connection URI (e.g., mssql://{host}:1433)
JdbcConnectionString	JDBC-format connection string (e.g., jdbc:sqlserver://{host}:1433;encrypt=true;trustServerCertificate=false)

Azure SQL Database

The Azure SQL Database resource inherits all properties from its parent server and adds:

Property Name	Description
DatabaseName	The name of the database

For example, if you reference a database resource named database in your AppHost project, the following environment variables will be available in the consuming project:

• DATABASE_HOST
• DATABASE_PORT
• DATABASE_URI
• DATABASE_JDBCCONNECTIONSTRING
• DATABASE_DATABASENAME

Add keyed SQL client

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

builder.AddKeyedSqlServerClient(name: "primary-db");
builder.AddKeyedSqlServerClient(name: "secondary-db");

Then you can retrieve the connection instances using dependency injection:

public class ExampleService(
    [KeyedService("primary-db")] SqlConnection primaryConnection,
    [KeyedService("secondary-db")] SqlConnection secondaryConnection)
{
    // Use connections...
}

For more information, see Keyed services in .NET.

Configuration

The Aspire Azure SQL Database library provides multiple options to configure the SQL connection based on the requirements and conventions of your project. A ConnectionString is required.

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 AddSqlServerClient:

builder.AddSqlServerClient(connectionName: "database");

The connection information is retrieved from the ConnectionStrings configuration section:

{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "database": "Server=myserver;Database=mydb;User Id=myuser;Password=mypassword;Encrypt=True"
  }
}

Use configuration providers

The library supports Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration. It loads settings from configuration using the Aspire:Microsoft:Data:SqlClient key:

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

Use inline delegates

You can configure settings inline:

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

Observability and telemetry

Aspire integrations automatically set up Logging, Tracing, and Metrics configurations.

Logging

The Aspire Azure SQL Database integration uses the following log categories:

• Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Tracing

The Aspire Azure SQL Database integration will emit the following tracing activities using OpenTelemetry:

• Microsoft.Data.SqlClient

Metrics

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

• Microsoft.Data.SqlClient
  • db.client.connections.create_time
  • db.client.connections.use_time
  • db.client.connections.wait_time
  • db.client.connections.idle.max
  • db.client.connections.idle.min
  • db.client.connections.max
  • db.client.connections.pending_requests
  • db.client.connections.timeouts
  • db.client.connections.usage