Microsoft SQL Server backs many internal and finance systems, holding operational data you'll want to measure alongside everything else. Connecting it as a data source through the Connectors library lets Alta sync the tables you choose straight from your database, where they become training data for Alta and a foundation for your metrics, dashboards, and Luna analysis. SQL Server connects with database credentials.

Who this is for: Engineering and data teams who want tables from a SQL Server database measured and queried in Alta.

Before you start

Have your connection details ready: host, port, database, schema, and a username and password with read access.
Make sure the database is reachable from Alta (public endpoint or allow-listed IPs / SSH tunnel as your setup requires).
Use a dedicated read-only login scoped to the schema you want to expose.
Connect a source only once per workspace. If SQL Server already shows Connected, edit the existing connection.

Connect SQL Server

Open Connectors from the sidebar.
Find Microsoft SQL Server via the Data tab or the Search data sources box.
Click the card to open the Create connector screen.
Fill in the connection fields shown (host, port, database, schema, username, password), then click Create.
Alta runs a connect test. If it fails you'll see The connect test has failed with the database error — fix the field and retry.
The card then shows Connected and Data is syncing until the first sync finishes.

Choose which tables sync

Open the connection. The Microsoft SQL Server tables section lists the tables in the schema you connected.
Use the Synced toggle to choose which tables Alta pulls in.
Turn off Show only synced tables to browse everything available.

What gets synced — your own tables

A database has no fixed schema for this purpose — you decide which of your own tables sync, and the columns are whatever your system defines. A good rule of thumb:

Core entity tables — customers, transactions/invoices, subscriptions — the records you report on.
An amount and a date column on the tables you want to trend or sum.
Lookup tables (statuses, products, regions) that turn IDs into readable labels.

What you can ask this data

The questions follow your tables. Once synced, build metrics and dashboards or ask Luna / Ask AI, for example:

"Sum [your amount column] by month from [your table]."
"What's the trend in [your metric] over the last 6 months?"
"Which [customers/products] drive the most [your metric]?"
"Compare my warehouse revenue table to CRM pipeline — forecast vs actuals."

Example use cases

Finance/operational reporting. Bring billing or ERP-adjacent tables into Alta for revenue and AR views.
Blend with app data. Join SQL Server records to CRM or billing sources for end-to-end metrics.
Self-serve analytics. Let the team ask Luna against your modeled tables instead of writing T-SQL.

Keep it in sync

Sync status shows Last sync (Succeeded/Failed) and the Sync frequency.
Click Sync now to refresh immediately; it's disabled while a sync runs.
Use the overflow menu (⋯) to Disable, Enable, or Delete.

Tips and common pitfalls

Network access is the usual blocker. Firewalls, security groups, or a missing SSH tunnel cause most failed connect tests.
Use a read-only login scoped to the schema you want to expose.
Big tables sync slowly. Pick the tables you actually report on rather than the whole schema.
Deleting is permanent. Disable instead to pause.