ADO - On Premise MSSQL Server Connector

I’m trying to understand how Anaplan Data Orchestrator (ADO) connects to an on-premises SQL Server.

In Anapedia, I found this:

An MSSQL instance hosted on a cloud platform, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), or any other cloud provider. The solution is compatible with on-premises SQL Server deployments.

I couldn’t find any documentation that explains how this works from a network and architecture perspective.

Does ADO support direct connectivity to on-prem SQL Server?
If yes, what is the expected setup (for example, public endpoint, DMZ/bastion, or SSH Tunneling)?
If not direct, does “compatible” mean that data must first be exported or landed to cloud storage (Blob/ADLS/etc.) before ADO can ingest it? (I am not interested in this solution since we use CloudWorks through Azure Blob.)

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seymatas1

@MarkWarren @alexpavel

alexpavel

@seymatas1 : The short answer is yes: ADO can connect with an MS-SQL server, but if you need security, it is needed to build an SSH tunnel authentication.

The connection needs to be solved from the ADO perspective, which is a cloud deployment application that needs to "see" an MS-SQL Server IP and port that could be on an ON-PREMISE environment (maybe not visible in "internet").

If the MS-SQL Server is "visible" in internet, from the ADO perspective, then the connection can also be done directly, with "No tunneling" indicating the usual parameters: IP, port, user and pwd for the MS-SQL Server.

Hope it helps,

Alex

seymatas1

Thanks Alex, this is helpful.

I want to add a bit of clarification for anyone looking at ADO with on-prem SQL Server.

As you stated, ADO is a cloud-deployed service, so connectivity has to work from the Anaplan cloud, not from a user machine, VPN, or desktop tool.

In practice, there are two ways ADO can connect to an on-prem MSSQL server.

Direct connection (No Tunneling)

This only works if the on-prem SQL Server is cloud-reachable:

SQL Server has a public IP or DNS
SQL port (usually 1433) is open
Firewall allows Anaplan IP ranges
Authentication uses SQL username/password (no Windows auth, no MFA)
TLS/SSL certificate is provided and validated

In this case, from ADO’s perspective, the database is simply “visible on the internet,” and the connection can be set up with No Tunneling.

For many customers, this setup is NOT approved.

2. SSH Tunneling (advanced and infrastructure-dependent)

SSH tunneling does not mean ADO can connect to any on-prem database.

It requires that the customer already has an approved setup like this:

A publicly reachable Linux jump server (bastion)
SSH (port 22) open and allowed from Anaplan IPs
The jump server can reach the on-prem MSSQL server
SSH key-based authentication (unencrypted PEM private key)
Security approval for cloud → SSH → internal DB traffic

In this setup, ADO connects to the jump server, and the jump server forwards traffic to the on-prem SQL Server.

If this pattern doesn’t already exist, SSH tunneling is usually not feasible, and it’s not something ADO sets up by itself.

SSH tunneling may also be REJECTED by most enterprise companies due to security and governance reasons.

I hope this clarifies things.

Seyma Tas

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