Good day everyone! And welcome back to SQL Something!
Here I am at the end of the month again, trying to fit in a couple last minute posts. Said I wouldn't do this again. Hopefully I spread them out a bit better next month.
Anyway, without any more delay let's look at creating a UDL file.
Firstly a UDL (Universal Data Link) file allows persons to test connectivity to OLE DB Providers. The OLE DB Provider we are interested in, of course, is the one for SQL Server. This is very useful to quickly test credentials on a machine that does not have SQL Server Management Studio installed, but needs access to a SQL Server instance (example testing SQL Server access from an application server to a SQL Server).
