4 Answers 4. MySQL's FEDERATED engine provides functionality similar to SQL Server's Linked Server (and Oracle's dblink) functionality, but doesn't support connecting to vendors other than MySQL. It's not clear from the question if you need the functionality to connect to vendors other than MySQL. You might want to look into MySQL Proxy. Linked server: A name to identify this linked server. You can choose this value as you wish. Server type: Choose the option 'Other data source'. Provider name: Choose the option 'Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Driver'. Provider string: Enter the following text: Driver= {MySQL ODBC Linked Server: SQL Server to MySQL The Goal. In this example, we will see how to set up a link to a MySQL instance using SQL Server. Installing the MySQL driver. The first step to setting up the linked server is to download Verifying the driver install. After installing the driver, check the.