You may need to consult your IT department about using and accessing SQL Server. Before you can get started you need to know the SQL Server Name and Instance. This can be typically retrieved when opening Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.

In the login dialog you need the Server name. In this case Windows Authentication is used.

When you start to create a new link configuration you use OleDb data source (UDL).

After clicking on Browse you choose a location for your UDL file and type in a file name. In this example the UDL file will be created in the project's Related Files folder.

Next the Windows Data Link Properties dialog pops up. If you need more info or support for this dialog use the Help button.

First you select the Provider. Windows typically comes with Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server. But you may find other providers as shown in this picture. The default provider is ok to use, but your IT department may be able to let you know what to use.

Under the Connection tab you copy the server name. If you click on the dropdown list WITHOUT copying the server name into the dialog, it may take a while, because the dialog will then search your whole network for SQL Servers.

After selecting the server you select the type of log procedure. In this example we use Windows Authentication.

Then you can use select the database from your sql server name.

Finally, you should click on the Test Connection button to make sure the server name and selected database can be connected to.

You will get this success message.

In the PlantLink Wizard you will now see the path and file name of your new UDL file.The Wizard checks if the path to the UDL file can be change to a relative path. This makes it easier in case you later want to copy the project. Then there is no need to adapt the Link Configuration.

All following pages in the PlantLink Wizard are the same as when using SQLite database as described for example under Create an Update Link.
 

If you want to edit the UDL files you simply click on the Edit button. This opens the Data Link Properties dialog again.

You can also just double-click on the file in Windows File Explorer which opens the Data Link Properties dialog too.

If you make changes outside the Wizard make sure you open the PlantLink main dialog and click on the Refresh button before testing, because PlantLink will not recognize changes to the Link Configurations (and in extension the UDL files) when they are already loaded on project load.

If you already have an UDL file you can use this as well. Maybe consider moving it under the project.

To use an existing UDL file you click on the Browse button.

Now you can open the existing UDL file.

If possible, the Wizard will adapt the path to a relative path if possible (for the reasons described above).