microsoft/mssql-django

microsoft/mssql-django

Description: Django Backend for Microsoft SQL provides a connectivity layer for Django on SQL Server or Azure SQL DB.

Language: Python

License: NOASSERTION

Stars: 399

Forks: 138

Open issues: 66

Created: 2020-10-20T23:43:05Z

Pushed: 2026-06-16T06:39:33Z

Default branch: dev

Fork: no

Archived: no

README:

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 | | Python | 3.8 – 3.14 (Django 6.0 requires 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):

pip install mssql-django

2. 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. |

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. |

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...