SQL Server OCF Connector Release Notes¶

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Core Connector Core connectors are included with all Alation platform tiers (subject to each tier’s connector limits) and are fully supported by Alation.

June 10, 2026¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.8.3¶

Enhancements¶

Support for Custom Query Validation Check¶

Added QLI custom query column validation to the preflight check. When users configure a custom QLI query or custom QLI view, the connector now validates that the query returns the expected column aliases before extraction begins. Missing mandatory columns produce a clear error, missing optional columns produce a warning explaining the impact, and unrecognized columns are flagged. This catches misconfigured QLI queries at setup time instead of failing silently at runtime. Applies to all users of the SQL Server OCF Connector. (AL-242522)

SDK Upgrade¶

The SDK version is now upgraded to 5.6.2. (AL-242522)

Fixed Issues¶

Duplicate Table Extraction for Multi-index Tables¶

During MDE, duplicate table objects are flagged as bad_record for multi-index tables.

This issue is now resolved. (AL-243944)

April 01, 2026¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.8.0¶

Enhancements¶

QLI Custom Query Column Validation¶

When you configure a custom QLI query or a custom QLI table or view, the preflight check now validates that the query returns the expected column aliases. Column alias matching is case-insensitive. (AL-236232)

If a mandatory column (queryString, startTime, sessionID) is missing or misspelled, the check fails with an error. The error identifies the issue and suggests corrections.
If optional columns are missing, the check shows a warning. The warning explains which catalog features may be affected.
If neither a custom query nor a table or view name is configured, the connector skips this validation.

If the first attempt fails because the configured table uses the native SQL Server QLI format, the connector automatically retries against the native column layout before reporting the result.

SDK Upgrade¶

The SDK version is now upgraded to 5.6.2. This upgrade includes the shared QLIColumnValidationHelper utility used by the new column validation preflight check.

JDBC Driver Upgrade¶

The JDBC driver version is now upgraded to 13.4.0 and this upgrade addresses the following Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs): (AL-213750)

CVE-2025-59250, CVE-2024-58251, CVE-2024-12243, CVE-2025-11187, CVE-2025-12194, CVE-2025-13151, CVE-2025-14831, CVE-2025-15467, CVE-2025-15468, CVE-2025-15469, CVE-2025-32988, CVE-2025-32989, CVE-2025-32990, CVE-2025-46394, CVE-2025-6395, CVE-2025-64505, CVE-2025-64506, CVE-2025-64720, CVE-2025-65018, CVE-2025-66199, CVE-2025-66293, CVE-2025-67735, CVE-2025-68160, CVE-2025-68161, CVE-2025-68972, CVE-2025-68973, CVE-2025-69418, CVE-2025-69419, CVE-2025-69420, CVE-2025-69421, CVE-2025-9820, CVE-2026-1584, CVE-2026-22695, CVE-2026-22795, CVE-2026-22796, CVE-2026-24515, CVE-2026-25210, CVE-2026-25646, CVE-2026-32776, CVE-2026-32777, CVE-2026-32778, CVE-2026-33416.

December 03, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.12¶

Enhancements¶

Catalog Page Displays Both Alation and Source Timestamps¶

Applies from Alation version 2025.3.3

The connector now extracts the source timestamp and displays it along with Alation timestamp (timestamps when the objects were created or updated) in the catalog page and source timestamps. (AL-201431)

Table Extraction Query Supports Removal of Unused Statements¶

The connector has now been updated to remove the unwanted statements from the query for optimization. (AL-210824)

October 15, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.10¶

Enhancements¶

SDK Upgrade¶

The SDK version is now upgraded to 4.13.1. This upgrade addresses the following Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure (CVE):

CVE-2025-9230, CVE-2025-9231, CVE-2025-9232, CVE-2025-59375, CVE-2025-48734

(AL-207384)

April 30, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.8¶

Fixed Issues¶

SQL Server MDE Job with NULL Character in Table Comments was Resulting in Partial Success¶

SQL Server MDE job with NULL character in Table Comments results in partial success with error: One or more of the metadata object values contain an unsupported character (the null character). The connector now replaces NULL characters with empty string.

This issue is now resolved. (AL-186593)

Scales were Missing for Certain Column Datatypes¶

Scales were missing for column data types time, datetime2, and datetimeoffset after MDE.

This issue is now resolved. (AL-179575)

February 26, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.6¶

Enhancements¶

SDK Upgrade¶

The SDK version is now upgraded to 4.10.0. This upgrade addresses the following Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs):

CVE-2024-12797, CVE-2024-13176, CVE-2024-12133

(AL-184249)

February 19, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.5¶

Enhancements¶

SDK Upgrade¶

The SDK version is now upgraded to 4.9.14. This upgrade addresses the following Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs):

CVE-2024-13176, CVE-2024-12133, CVE-2014-0114, CVE-2019-10086, CVE-2015-7501, CVE-2015-6420, CVE-2024-47535, CVE-2022-45688, CVE-2023-5072, CVE-2025-24970

(AL-179074, AL-182472)

February 12, 2025¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.4¶

Fixed Issues¶

QLI Failure¶

QLI fails in the following cases:

QLI fails when NULL characters are present in the session ID. (AL-162799)

QLI fails for SQLServer 2016 due to missing column timestamp_utc. This is used in the QLI volume check. (AL-180639)

These issues are now resolved.

November 20, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.1¶

Fixed Issues¶

Incorrect Column Sizes Retrieved for Data Types Defined As VARCHAR(MAX), NVARCHAR(MAX), and VARBINARY(MAX)¶

Connector extracts column sizes defined as varchar(max), nvarchar(max), and varbinary(max) data types in SQL Server database as varchar(-1), nvarchar(0), and varbinary(-1).

This issue is now resolved. (AL-172681)

July 31, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.7.0¶

Enhancements¶

SDK Upgrade¶

SQL Server OCF connector is now upgraded to the latest SDK version 4.8.15. (AL-166112)

This SDK upgrade fixed the following issues:

CVE-2022-25647, CVE-2023-2976, CVE-2020-8908, CVE-2021-22569, CVE-2021-22570, CVE-2022-3509, CVE-2022-3510, CVE-2022-3171, CVE-2021-29425, CVE-2021-37136, CVE-2021-37137, CVE-2019-20444, CVE-2021-21290, CVE-2021-43797, CVE-2022-24823, CVE-2024-29025, CVE-2021-21295, CVE-2021-21409, CVE-2020-11612, CVE-2019-20445, CVE-2023-34462

Fixed Issues¶

Incorrect Length of characters/digits for the Nchar, Nvarchar, Decimal and Numerical columns¶

Incorrect length of characters/digits for the Nchar, Nvarchar, Decimal and Numerical columns.

The issue is now fixed. (AL-162572)

July 19, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.6.2¶

Enhancements¶

Applies only to Alation Cloud Service on the cloud native architecture

When installed on an Alation Agent, this connector now supports authenticating with credentials the Agent has fetched from AWS Secrets Manager. For more information, see Integrate with AWS Secrets Manager. (AL-159572)

SDK Upgrade¶

SQL Server OCF connector is now upgraded to SDK version 4.8.5. (AL-159572)

April 29, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.5.1¶

Fixed Issues¶

Deleted Objects Appear During Metadata Extraction¶

Deleted objects such as Tables appear on the catalog page when you re-run Metadata Extraction.

This issue is fixed. Now, the deleted objects do not appear on the Catalog page. (AL-155084)

April 17, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.5.0¶

Enhancements¶

With Alation version 2024.1 and SQL Server OCF connector version 1.5.0, Alation has introduced an enhanced user interface for configuring the SQL Server data source settings.

Note

The connector version is compatible with Alation versions prior to 2023.3.4. However, you will view the old user interface with Alation versions prior to 2024.1.

The documentation for the new SQL Server experience is available at : SQL Server OCF Connector.

The enhanced user interface provides the following features:

Better User Experience¶

The enhanced SQL Server user interface provides better navigation and multiple visual cues, making it easy to configure and manage SQL Server data source.

Easy to Connect¶

The SQL Server user interface now provides a step-by-step process to connect to your SQL Server data source easily and quickly.

Additional Error-Prevention Checks¶

The SQL Server user interface now includes added checks to avoid obvious configuration mistakes. The user interface also includes text to assist and provide cues while configuring.

Detailed Error Reports and Troubleshooting Support¶

The improved SQL Server user interface makes troubleshooting easier for metadata extraction and query log ingestion, as you can now have a detailed error report for both processes. The report contains a detailed error description and steps to resolve the issue. (AL-139399).

February 28, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.4.0¶

Enhancements¶

Docker CIS Benchmark Compliance¶

SQL OCF connector versions 2.3.0 and newer are now compliant with the following Docker CIS benchmarks:

Docker 4.1 - Ensures that a user for the container is created

Docker 4.6 - Ensures that HEALTHCHECK instructions are added to container images

Docker 4.7 - Ensures that docker files do not include update instructions as a standalone or single-line instruction

January 10, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.3.10¶

Fixed Issues¶

VIEW Columns Fail to Display the Column Length¶

VIEW columns in SQL OCF connector do not display the column length or limit along with the data type name.

January 03, 2024¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.3.9¶

Fixed Issues¶

QLI Jobs Display Incorrect Job Status for Errors¶

A QLI is completed with Partial Success status even when there are errors and the error message is displayed only in the connector logs.

December 20, 2023¶

SQL Server OCF Connector: Version 1.3.8¶

Fixed Issues¶

SQL Server Connection Error Soft Deletes Cataloged Objects¶

In SQL Server OCF Connector, an error in the SQL server connection caused an empty stream of data, which was treated as a successful MDE and resulted in the soft deletion of all the extracted metadata.

Alation now ensures that such configuration and connection errors result in metadata extraction failure instead of an empty data stream.

November 8, 2023¶

SQL Server OCF Connector Version 1.3.7¶

Compatible Alation version: 2022.2 or higher

Fixed Issues¶

Connection Test Fails When Using SSL with NTLM Authentication¶

Fixed an issue when the connection test failed when SSL was enabled with NTLM authentication. The test resulted in the following error:

Caused by: sun.security.validator.ValidatorException: PKIX path building failed:
sun.security.provider.certpath.SunCertPathBuilderException:
unable to find valid certification path to requested target

To use SSL with NTLM, basic, or Kerberos authentication, use the following JDBC URL format:

sqlserver://<Host_Name>:<Port_Number>;encrypt=true;hostNameInCertificate=<certificate_name>;

This JDBC URI includes the following additional SSL related parameters:

encrypt=true

hostNameInCertificate=<certificate_name>

You can run the command below to verify your certificate name. In the result, check for the value after CN=. That’s the certificate name.

openssl x509 -noout -subject -in <certificate_name>.crt;

Example:

sqlserver://10.13.82.165:1433;encrypt=true;hostNameInCertificate=abc.corp.net;