Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server Released!

Dear SQL Server Developer Community,

I am pleased to report that the Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server is now released. Thank you for all your great feedback on our three community technology previews (CTP). Our 4.0 release contains some great features which I would like to highlight.

Pure Java Kerberos

Customers using non-Windows platforms now have the option of using Kerberos for authentication. The table below summarizes available authentication options.

Platform

Authentication

Non-Windows

Pure Java Kerberos

Non-Windows

SQL Server

Windows

Pure Java Kerberos

Windows

SQL Server

Windows

Kerberos with NTLM backup

Windows

NTLM

 

We have several customers who have tested Kerberos via our CTP driver, some using Linux in a cross-realm environment.

Always On

The Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server supports AlwaysOn high availability and disaster recovery. Customers have the option to use AlwaysOn instead of database mirroring. 
Some key features include

  • Ability to specify whether an application is connecting to an AlwaysOn Availability Group Cluster (multi subnet failover)
  • Ability to specify application intent as read only vs. read/write

Correlated Tracing with XEvents

SQL Server 2012 introduces a user interface for XEvents and users can choose to track driver related actions within XEvents. Simply set appropriate parameters for logging, create an XEvents session and the Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL
Server will send tracing information to XEvents to enable troubleshooting and monitoring. The correlation information will be available in all XEvent targets including in memory, the XEvents ring buffer, log files, and the viewer in management studio.

FormatID change in XA Transactions

Based on customer and partner feedback, we made a change to the way the FormatID field is handled in XA transactions. The Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server will now use the provided formatID field in all XA transactions.

Other features

Other features include UTF-16 support, enhanced SQL Azure support, support for sparse columns,and bug fixes.

Documentation, Feedback and Download

You can find documentation on the driver at our MSDN documentation page, obtain technical support via our forums or Microsoft Customer Support, report bugs via the SQL Server Connect Site, and (most importantly!) download the new driver here.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to your feedback.

Shamitha Reddy

Program Manager - Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server