Database connection

Article summary

A database connection is a facility in computer science that allows client software to talk to database server software, whether on the same machine or not. A connection is required to send commands and receive answers, usually in the form of a result set. Connections are a key concept in data-centric programming. Since some DBMS engines require considerable time to connect, connection pooling was invented to improve performance. No command can be performed against a database without an "open and available" connection to it. Connections are built by supplying an underlying driver or provider with a connection string, which is a way of addressing a specific database or server and instance as well as user authentication credentials (for example, Server=sql_box;Database=Common;User ID=uid;Pwd=password;). Once a connection has been built it can be opened and closed at will, and properties (such as the command time-out length, or transaction, if one exists) can be set. The Connection String is composed of a set of key/value pairs as dictated by the data access interface and data provider being used. Many databases (such as PostgreSQL) only allow one operation to be performed at a time on each connection.…

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