Prerequisites

  • An up-and-running Microsoft SQL Server instance. Instructions for creating a Microsoft SQL Server destination are outside the scope of this tutorial; our instructions assume that you have an instance up and running. For help getting started with Microsoft SQL Server, refer to Microsoft’s documentation.

Step 1: Verify your Stitch account's data pipeline region

First, you’ll log into Stitch and verify the data pipeline region your account is using. Later in this guide, you’ll need to grant Stitch access by whitelisting our IP addresses.

The IP addresses you’ll whitelist depend on the Data pipeline region your account is in.

  1. Sign into your Stitch account, if you haven’t already.
  2. Click User menu (your icon) > Edit User Settings and locate the Data pipeline region section to verify your account’s region.

  3. Locate the list of IP addresses for your region:

Keep this list handy - you’ll need it later.

Step 2: Configure database connection settings

In this step, you’ll configure the database server to allow traffic from Stitch to access it. There are two ways to connect your database:

  • A direct connection will work if your database is publicly accessible.
  • An SSH tunnel is required if your database isn’t publicly accessible. This method uses a publicly accessible instance, or an SSH server, to act as an intermediary between Stitch and your database. The SSH server will forward traffic from Stitch through an encrypted tunnel to the private database.

Click the option you’re using below and follow the instructions.

I'm using a direct connection.

For the connection to be successful, you’ll need to configure your firewall to allow access from our IP addresses.

The IP addresses you’ll whitelist depend on the Data pipeline region your account is in.

  1. Sign into your Stitch account, if you haven’t already.
  2. Click User menu (your icon) > Edit User Settings and locate the Data pipeline region section to verify your account’s region.

  3. Locate the list of IP addresses for your region:

  4. Whitelist the appropriate IP addresses.

I'm using an SSH tunnel to connect.

  1. Follow the steps in the Setting up an SSH Tunnel for a database connection guide to set up an SSH tunnel for Microsoft SQL Server.
  2. Complete the steps in this guide after the SSH setup is complete.

Step 3: Create a Stitch Microsoft SQL Server database user

In the following tabs are the instructions for creating a Stitch Microsoft SQL Server database user and explanations for the permissions Stitch requires.

  1. If you haven’t already, connect to your Microsoft SQL Server instance using your SQL client.

  2. Navigate to the master database.

  3. In the master database, run the following commands to create a login and a user named stitch. Replace <STRONG_PASSWORD_HERE> with a strong password:

    CREATE LOGIN stitch WITH PASSWORD = '<STRONG_PASSWORD_HERE>';
CREATE USER stitch FOR LOGIN stitch;

  4. Next, navigate to the database where you want Stitch to load data.

  5. In this database, run the following commands to create a login and a database user named stitch. Replace <DATABASE_NAME> with the name of the database:

    CREATE USER stitch FOR LOGIN stitch;
GRANT CONTROL ON DATABASE::<DATABASE_NAME> to stitch;

  6. Run the following commands to allow the user to create tables and schemas:

    GRANT CREATE TABLE ON DATABASE::<DATABASE_NAME> to stitch;
GRANT CREATE SCHEMA ON DATABASE::<DATABASE_NAME> to stitch;

In the table below are the database user privileges Stitch requires to connect to and load data into Microsoft SQL Server.

Privilege name Reason for requirement
CONTROL

Required to create the necessary database objects to load and store your data.

The CONTROL permission grants ownership-like capabilities to the Stitch user. This ensures that Stitch has all the necessary permissions to load data into the specified database, including ownership abilities on all schemas in the database, and all objects within all schemas in the database.
CREATE TABLE

Required to create tables in the database.
CREATE SCHEMA

Required to create schemas in the database.

Step 4: Connect Stitch

To complete the setup, you need to enter your Microsoft SQL Server connection details into the Destination Settings page in Stitch.

Step 4.1: Enter connection details into Stitch

  1. If you aren’t signed into your Stitch account, sign in now.

  2. Click the Destination tab.

  3. Locate and click the Microsoft SQL Server icon.

  4. Fill in the fields as follows:

    • Display Name: Enter a display name for your destination, to distinguish various connections of the same type.

    • Description (optional): Enter a description for your destination.

    • Host (Endpoint): Enter the host address (endpoint) used by the Microsoft SQL Server instance. For example: This could be a network address such as 192.68.0.1, or a server endpoint like dbname.hosting-provider.com.

    • Port: Enter the port used by the Microsoft SQL Server instance. The default is 1433.

    • Username: Enter the Stitch Microsoft SQL Server database user’s username.

    • Password: Enter the password for the Stitch Microsoft SQL Server database user.

    • **: Enter the name of the Microsoft SQL Server database you want to connect to Stitch.

Step 4.2: Define SSH connection details

If you’re using an SSH tunnel to connect your Microsoft SQL Server database to Stitch, you’ll also need to define the SSH settings. Refer to the Setting up an SSH Tunnel for a database connection guide for assistance with completing these fields.

  1. Click the Encryption Type menu.

  2. Select SSH to display the SSH fields.

  3. Fill in the fields as follows:

    • Remote Address: Enter the public IP address or hostname of the server Stitch will SSH into.

    • SSH Port: Enter the SSH port on your server. (22 by default)

    • SSH User: Enter the Stitch Linux (SSH) user’s username.

Step 4.3: Define SSL connection details

Check the Connect using SSL checkbox. Note: The database must support and allow SSL connections for this setting to work correctly.

Step 4.4: Save the destination

When finished, click Check and Save.

Stitch will perform a connection test to the Microsoft SQL Server database; if successful, a Success! message will display at the top of the screen. Note: This test may take a few minutes to complete.

Related Troubleshooting
Questions? Feedback?

Did this article help? If you have questions or feedback, feel free to submit a pull request with your suggestions, open an issue on GitHub, or reach out to us.