Django Backend for Microsoft SQL

mssql-django is the official Microsoft‑supported Django database backend for SQL Server, Azure SQL and SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric.

It provides a reliable, enterprise‑grade database connectivity option for the Django web framework, enabling Python developers to build and run production‑ready applications on Microsoft’s data platform.

This project is the continuation and evolution of earlier community efforts, and it builds on the strong foundation established by django-mssql-backend and its predecessors. mssql-django focuses on long‑term stability, performance, security, and compatibility with both Django and SQL Server.

Supportability

| Component | Supported Versions | |---|---| | Django | 3.2, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 6.0, 6.1 | | Python | 3.8 – 3.14 (Django 6.0 and 6.1 require 3.12+) | | SQL Server | 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, 2025 | | Azure SQL | Database, Managed Instance, SQL Database in Microsoft Fabric | | ODBC Driver | Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 or 18 for SQL Server | | FreeTDS | Supported via FreeTDS ODBC driver |

Quick Start

1. Install mssql-django (pulls in Django, pyodbc, and pytz automatically):

1. Configure your settings.py:

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'mssql',
        'NAME': 'mydb',
        'USER': 'user@myserver',
        'PASSWORD': 'password',
        'HOST': 'myserver.database.windows.net',
        'PORT': '',
        'OPTIONS': {
            'driver': 'ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server',
        },
    },
}
set this to False if you want to turn off pyodbc's connection pooling
DATABASE_CONNECTION_POOLING = False

Configuration Reference

Standard Django Settings

| Setting | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | ENGINE | String | Must be "mssql" | | NAME | String | Database name. Required. | | HOST | String | SQL Server instance in "server\instance" format | | PORT | String | Server instance port. Empty string means default port. | | USER | String | Database user name. If not given, MS Integrated Security is used. | | PASSWORD | String | Database user password | | TOKEN | String | Access token for Azure AD auth (e.g. via azure.identity) | | AUTOCOMMIT | Boolean | Set to False to disable Django's transaction management | | Trusted_Connection | String | Default "yes". Set to "no" if required. |

TEST Settings

| Setting | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | NAME | String | Test database name. Default: "test_" + NAME | | COLLATION | String | Collation for test database. Default: instance default. | | DEPENDENCIES | String | Creation-order dependencies of the database | | MIRROR | String | Alias of database to mirror during testing |

OPTIONS

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | driver | String | "ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server" | ODBC driver to use. Auto-falls back to Driver 17 if 18 is not installed. | | isolation_level | String | None | Transaction isolation level: READ UNCOMMITTED, READ COMMITTED, REPEATABLE READ, SNAPSHOT, or SERIALIZABLE | | dsn | String | — | Named DSN, can be used instead of HOST | | host_is_server | Boolean | False | Set to True to use HOST/PORT directly with FreeTDS instead of a freetds.conf dataserver name. Details | | unicode_results | Boolean | False | Activate pyodbc's unicode\_results feature | | extra_params | String | — | Additional ODBC params ("param=value;param=value"). Use for Azure AD Authentication. | | collation | String | None | Collation for text field lookups (e.g. "Chinese_PRC_CI_AS") | | connection_timeout | Integer | 0 | Connection timeout in seconds (0 = disabled) | | connection_retries | Integer | 5 | Number of connection retry attempts | | connection_retry_backoff_time | Integer | 5 | Back-off time in seconds between retries | | query_timeout | Integer | 0 | Query timeout in seconds (0 = disabled) | | setencoding / setdecoding | List | — | pyodbc encoding / decoding config | | return_rows_bulk_insert | Boolean | False | Allow returning rows from bulk insert. Must be False if tables have triggers. |

Disabling MARS

The backend enables Multiple Active Result Sets (MARS) by default with Microsoft ODBC drivers on Windows. To connect to an endpoint that does not support MARS, such as Microsoft Fabric Warehouse, set MARS_Connection=no in that database alias's extra_params:

'OPTIONS': {
    'driver': 'ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server',
    'extra_params': 'Authentication=ActiveDirectoryServicePrincipal;MARS_Connection=no',
},

Keep your existing HOST, NAME, USER (client ID), and PASSWORD (client secret) settings. For other authentication methods, keep the corresponding authentication settings and append MARS_Connection=no to extra_params. An explicit MARS setting is honored case-insensitively, without adding a conflicting default. With MARS disabled, ORM iteration buffers results before yielding them so nested queries can use the same connection; this can use more memory for large querysets. This connection setting does not imply full Warehouse support for Django migrations or other SQL Server features.

Backend-Specific Settings

| Setting | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | DATABASE_CONNECTION_POOLING | Boolean | True | Set to False to disable pyodbc's connection pooling |

Known Limitations

The following limitations apply when using SQL Server with Django:

• Altering a model field from or to AutoField at migration
• Floating point arithmetic in some annotate functions
• Annotate/exists function in order_by
• Righthand power and arithmetic with datetimes
• Timezones and timedeltas not fully supported
• Rename field/model with foreign key constraint
• Database level constraints and filtered indexes
• Date extract function
• Bulk insert with triggers and returning rows

Version-Specific Notes

| Version | Notes | |---|---| | Django 5.1 | Minor limitations with composite primary key inspection via inspectdb | | Django 5.2 | Tuple lookups require Django 5.2.4+ for full support. Some JSONField bulk/CASE WHEN update edge cases. See test exclusions for details. | | Django 6.0 | Requires Python 3.12+. All 5.2 limitations apply. Backend handles all 6.0 API changes transparently. | | Django 6.1 | Requires Python 3.12+. All 6.0 limitations apply. Two 6.1 additions are unavailable: database-level referential actions (DB_CASCADE, DB_SET_NULL, DB_SET_DEFAULT) are not supported because SQL Server disallows multiple cascade paths to the same table, so using one raises a Django system check (fields.E324) that points you to the standard Django-level on_delete; and bitwise aggregates (BitAnd, BitOr, BitXor) are not implemented by this backend and raise NotSupportedError. See test exclusions for details. |

JSONField lookups have additional limitations — see the JSONField wiki page.

Helpful Links

| Resource | Link | |---|---| | Wiki & Guides | mssql-django Wiki | | Contributing | Contributing Guide | | Code of Conduct | Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct |

Still have questions?

Check the FAQ or open an issue on GitHub.

Contributing

We welcome contributions and suggestions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

All contributors are listed on GitHub: Contributor Insights

Most contributions require a Contributor License Agreement (CLA). For details, visit https://cla.opensource.microsoft.com. A CLA bot will guide you when you submit a pull request.

This project has adopted the Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct.

Security

For security reporting instructions please refer to SECURITY.md.

Trademarks

This project may contain trademarks or logos for projects, products, or services. Authorized use of Microsoft trademarks or logos is subject to and must follow Microsoft's Trademark & Brand Guidelines. Use of Microsoft trademarks or logos in modified versions of this project must not cause confusion or imply Microsoft sponsorship. Any use of third-party trademarks or logos are subject to those third-party's policies.