ADO.NET Data Providers

The ADO.NET Data Provider model provides a common managed interface in the .NET Framework for connecting to and interacting with a data store. The ADO.NET Entity Framework builds on top of the ADO.NET Data Provider model to allow for use of the Entity Framework with any data source for which a supported provider is available.

The .NET Framework includes ADO.NET providers for direct access to Microsoft SQL Server (including Entity Framework support), and for indirect access to other databases with ODBC and OLE DB drivers (see .NET Framework Data Providers). For direct access to other databases, many third-party providers are available as shown below.