# Connection strings settings

The connection strings settings section contains the connection string to the database Umbraco will connect to. This section is similar to what is used by default in .NET Core. The important thing is that the key for the connection string Umbraco will use is `"umbracoDbDSN"`. It is also important to know that this section is outside the `Umbraco.CMS` section, and is therefore in the root of the config.

The connection strings config can look like this:

```json
{
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "umbracoDbDSN": "Data Source=|DataDirectory|/Umbraco.sqlite.db;Cache=Shared;Foreign Keys=True;Pooling=True",
    "umbracoDbDSN_ProviderName": "Microsoft.Data.Sqlite"
  }
}
```

{% hint style="info" %}
It is recommended to use shared cache for SQLite when using Umbraco. It provides better performance and consistency when multiple connections may access the database simultaneously.
{% endhint %}

The connection string used here is an SQLite connection string, that will connect to a data in the file `Umbraco.sqlite.db` located in `/umbraco/Data` .

Umbraco currently supports using either a Microsoft SQL Server or a SQLite database. Both of these options will have different connection strings. For more information about the specific connection strings, see:

* [SQL Server 2019 connection strings](https://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-2019/)
* [SQLite connection strings](https://www.connectionstrings.com/sqlite/)

{% hint style="info" %}
If you're using Umbraco 9 [SQL Server Compact database](https://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-compact/) is supported instead of SQLite.
{% endhint %}

## Provider name

Because Umbraco cannot determine the provider name from the connection string in all cases. Umbraco follows [Microsoft's convention](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/aspnet/core/fundamentals/configuration/?view=aspnetcore-8.0#connection-string-prefixes-1) for provider names, which involves specifying it as a postfix in the connection string name.


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