Quickstart: Connect and query a SQL database in Fabric using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

Applies to: SQL database in Microsoft Fabric

Get started using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) to connect to your SQL database in Microsoft Fabric and run some Transact-SQL (T-SQL) commands.

The article demonstrates the following steps:

Prerequisites

• Install SQL Server Management Studio
• You need an existing Fabric capacity. If you don't, start a Fabric trial.
• You can use an existing workspace or create a new Fabric workspace.
• You must be a member of the Admin or Member roles for the workspace to create a SQL database.
• Create a SQL database in Fabric. Start with an new, empty database.

Connect to a SQL database in Fabric

1. Start SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). The first time you run SSMS, the Connect to Server window opens. If it doesn't open, you can open it manually by selecting Object Explorer > Connect > Database Engine.

   

2. Locate the server name and database name for your SQL database in the Fabric portal.

   The connection string of the SQL database is similar to the connection string of Azure SQL Database. The server name looks like <server-unique-identifer>.database.windows.net and the database name looks like <database name>-<unique identifier>.

   To find the SQL connection string for your SQL database in Fabric:

   • Go to the settings of your SQL database item. Select Connection strings. The server name is the Data source and the database name is the Initial Catalog.

   • Or, in the item list of the workspace, select the ... menu. Select Settings then Connection strings.

   • Or, select the Open in button and SQL Server Management Studio. The server connection information is displayed.

     

     

3. The Connect to Server dialog box appears. Enter the following information, all other settings can be left default:

   Setting	Suggested value	Details
   Server type	Database Engine	Select Database Engine (usually the default option).
   Server name	The fully qualified server name	Enter the Server Name, including .database.fabric.microsoft.com,1433.
   Authentication	Choose Microsoft Entra MFA.	For more information, see Authentication in SQL database in Microsoft Fabric.
   Database Name	Provide the database name of your SQL database.

   You can also modify additional connection options by selecting Options. Examples of connection options are the database you're connecting to, the connection timeout value, and the network protocol. This article uses the default values for all the options.

4. Select Connect.

5. To verify that your SQL database in Fabric connection succeeded, expand and explore the objects within Object Explorer where the server name, the SQL Server version, and the username are displayed. These objects are different depending on the server type.

Troubleshoot connectivity issues

• If your browser fails to connect to SQL Database when using Microsoft Entra with MFA, you can navigate to Tools > Options > Azure Services > Azure Cloud, and change the value for either Use system default web browser or Use Web Account Manager. For more information, see Options (Azure Services).

• If you experience connection problems with SQL database in Fabric, see Understand network security in Microsoft Fabric

Create a table in the new database

In this section, you create a table in your database.

1. In the Object Explorer, in the Databases list, right-click on your database, and select New Query:

   

2. Paste the following T-SQL code snippet into the query window:

   -- Create a new table called 'Customers' in schema 'dbo'
   -- Drop the table if it already exists
   IF OBJECT_ID('dbo.Customers', 'U') IS NOT NULL
       DROP TABLE dbo.Customers;
   GO
   
   -- Create the table in the specified schema
   CREATE TABLE dbo.Customers
   (
       CustomerId INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, -- primary key column
       Name NVARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
       Location NVARCHAR (50) NOT NULL,
       Email NVARCHAR (50) NOT NULL
   );
   GO
   

3. Execute the query by selecting Execute or selecting F5 on your keyboard.

After the query is complete, the new Customers table is displayed in the list of tables in Object Explorer. If the table isn't displayed, right-click the TutorialDB > Tables node in Object Explorer, and then select Refresh.

Insert rows into the new table

Now let's insert some rows into the Customers table that you created. Paste the following T-SQL code snippet into the query window, and then select Execute:

-- Insert rows into table 'Customers'
INSERT INTO dbo.Customers (
    [CustomerId],
    [Name],
    [Location],
    [Email]
)
VALUES
    (1, N'Orlando', N'Australia', N''),
    (2, N'Keith', N'India', N'keith0@adventure-works.com'),
    (3, N'Donna', N'Germany', N'donna0@adventure-works.com'),
    (4, N'Janet', N'United States', N'janet1@adventure-works.com');
GO

Query the table and view the results

The results of a query are visible beneath the query text window. To query the Customers table and view the rows that were inserted, paste the following T-SQL code snippet into the query window, and then select Execute:

-- Select rows from table 'Customers'
SELECT * FROM dbo.Customers;

The query results are displayed under the area where the text was entered.

You can also modify the way results are presented by selecting one of the following options:

• The first button displays the results in Text View, as shown in the image in the next section.
• The middle button displays the results in Grid View, which is the default option.
• The third button lets you save the results to a file whose extension is .rpt by default.

Verify your connection properties by using the query window table

You can find information about the connection properties under the results of your query. After you run the previously mentioned query in the preceding step, review the connection properties at the bottom of the query window.

• You can determine which server and database you're connected to, and your username.

• You can also view the query duration and the number of rows returned by the previously executed query.

  

Clean up resources

Remove the sample table we create in this quickstart. Paste the following T-SQL code and Execute:

DROP TABLE dbo.Customers;

Related content

• Query Editor (SQL Server Management Studio)
• Script objects in SQL Server Management Studio
• Use templates in SQL Server Management Studio
• SQL Server Management Studio components and configuration
• Tips and tricks for using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)