In ADO.NET you use a Connection object to connect to a specific data source by supplying necessary authentication information in a connection string. The Connection object you use depends on the type of data source.

Each .NET Framework data provider included with the .NET Framework has a DbConnection object: the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB includes an OleDbConnection object, the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server includes a SqlConnection object, the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC includes an OdbcConnection object, and the .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle includes an OracleConnection object.