Support Policies for SQL Server Native Client

Article
07/01/2013

This topic discusses how various data-access components can be used with SQL Server Native Client.

Server Support

SQL Server Native Client 11.0 supports connections to SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 R2, SQL Server 2012, and Windows Azure SQL Database.

Supported Operating System Versions

The following table lists which operating systems support SQL Server Native Client.

SQL Server Native Client version	Supported operating systems
SQL Server Native Client (SQL Server 2005)	Microsoft Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 or later Microsoft Windows Server 2003 or later Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 or later Microsoft Windows Vista (requires SQL Server Service Pack 2, or later) Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (requires SQL Server Service Pack 2, or later)
SQL Server Native Client 10.0 (SQL Server 2008)	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, or later Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, or later Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows Server 2008
SQL Server Native Client 10.5 (SQL Server 2008 R2)	Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2, or later Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 or later Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Windows 7
SQL Server Native Client 11.0 (SQL Server 2012)	Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows 8 Microsoft Windows Server 2012

ADO Support Policies

ADO applications can use the SQLOLEDB OLE DB provider that is included with Windows if they do not require any of the features of SQL Server 2005 or later.

ADO applications can use the version of SQL Server Native Client included in SQL Server 2005. ADO applications can also use SQL Server Native Client 11.0 (included in SQL Server 2012), but if they do so they must specify DataTypeCompatibility=80 in the connection strings. Only features from SQL Server 2005 are available when DataTypeCompatibility=80 is present in the connection strings.

BCP Support Policies

Beginning in SQL Server 2008, bcp.exe supports data files that are no more than three SQL Server versions older than the version of SQL Server in which bcp.exe shipped.

ODBC Support Policies

Applications should use the SQL Server ODBC driver included with the Windows operating system. You can use the SQL Server Native Client ODBC driver if the application is certified it for use with a specific version of SQL Server Native Client.

OLE DB Support Policies

Applications should use the SQL Server OLE DB provider included with the Windows operating system. You can use the SQL Server Native Client OLE DB provider if the application is certified for use with a specific version of SQL Server Native Client.

OLE DB applications that have not been certified for use with SQL Server Native Client can use SQL Server Native client if they specify DataTypeCompatibility=80 in their connection strings.

OLE DB applications that use OLE DB Service Components can only use SQL Server Native client if they specify DataTypeCompatibility=80 in their connection strings. However, no features added after SQL Server 2005 will be available in this case.