NET Framework Data Providers

A .NET Framework data provider is used for connecting to a database, executing commands, and retrieving results. Those results are either processed directly, or placed in an ADO.NET DataSet in order to be exposed to the user in an ad-hoc manner, combined with data from multiple sources, or remoted between tiers. The .NET Framework data provider is designed to be lightweight, creating a minimal layer between the data source and your code, increasing performance without sacrificing functionality.
The following table outlines the four core objects that make up a .NET Framework data provider.

Object	Description
Connection	Establishes a connection to a specific data source.
Command	Executes a command against a data source. Exposes Parameters and can execute within the scope of a Transaction from a Connection.
DataReader	Reads a forward-only, read-only stream of data from a data source.
DataAdapter	Populates a DataSet and resolves updates with the data source.

 
The .NET Framework includes the .NET Framework Data Provider for SQL Server (for Microsoft SQL Server version 7.0 or later), the .NET Framework Data Provider for OLE DB, and the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC.

Note   The .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC is not included in the .NET Framework version 1.0. If you require the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC and are using the .NET Framework version 1.0, you can download the .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC at http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads. The namespace for the downloaded .NET Framework Data Provider for ODBC is Microsoft.Data.Odbc.