How to handle the "No suitable driver found" error when connecting to an MS-SQL database

This article provides step-by-step instructions on how to handle the "No suitable driver found" error. This error usually occurs while establishing an MS-SQL connection with Confluence using the SQL for Confluence (Pro Edition) app.

Instructions

Log into Confluence as an administrator.
Click the Cog menu > Manage apps.
Expand the Bob Swift Atlassian Add-ons - SQL (Pro Edition) app.
Click Configure to see the configuration page.
Select the View and modify data source profiles tab.
Click Add profile to create a data source profile.
Provide the following parameters and other required details while creating the profile:
Connection String for MSSQL database:
```
jdbc:sqlserver://<hostname>:1433;databaseName=<database-name>
```
Driver class:
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
Driver Jar location:
```
<Confluence-Installation-Directory>/Confluence/WEB-INF/lib/<mssql-jdbc-x.x.x.jar>
```
To download the required jar file, navigate to this URL: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/jdbc/download-microsoft-jdbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15 and place the jar file in the <Confluence-Installation-Directory>/Confluence/WEB-INF/lib location.
In general, Confluence provides the JDBC jar for MS-SQL. It is under <Confluence-Installation-Directory>/Confluence/WEB-INF/lib.
The port number may vary according to your database set-up.
As per Atlassian, the open source jTDS driver for Microsoft SQL Server is not supported for use beyond Confluence 6.5. This means you need to switch to using the official Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server, which is bundled with Confluence 6.4 and later.
Click Test connection. Once the connection is successful, you get the "Connection successful" message.
Click Next and Save profile.

The MS-SQL connection is now set for your Confluence instance without the driver error.