---
title: Database
url: https://documentation.cluedin.net/ingest/data-sources/database
content_type: how-to
section: Ingest > Data sources
---

# Database

> how-to: Steps to accomplish one task.

In this article, you will learn how to ingest data from a database into CluedIn.

You can ingest the database tables to CluedIn if you have the **read permission** to these database tables. The process of ingesting data from the database involves two steps:

1. [Adding connection to the database](#add-connection-to-database)

2. [Ingesting the database tables](#ingest-database-tables)

> **Important:** The maximum number of columns accepted for data ingestion is 490.<br>Before loading data into CluedIn, ensure that it does not contain unsupported characters. Refer to our knowledge base [article](https://documentation.cluedin.net/model/data-catalog/supported-characters.md) for information about supported and unsupported characters.

## Add connection to database

To be able to access the database tables in CluedIn, first establish a connection to the database.

**To add a connection to the database**

1. On CluedIn home page, in the **Integrations** section, select **Import from database**.

    The **Import from database** pane opens, where you can provide the database connection details and choose the group for storing the data source.

1. On the **Connection string** tab, do the following:

    1. Choose the **SQL database technology** to query the data (Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, or Postgres).

    1. Enter the database connection details such as **Host**, **Database name**, **Username**, and **Password**. Optionally, you may add **Port number**.

    1. In the lower-right corner, select **Test connection**. After you receive a notification that the connection is successful, select **Next**.

1. On the **Configure** tab, do the following:

    1. Enter the **Name** of the data source.

    1. Specify the **Group** where the data source will be stored. You can choose the existing group or create a new group.

    1. In the lower-right corner, select **Add**.

    The database connection is added to CluedIn.

    ![The Employees database connection page, showing the Connected status and the Data Sets, Permissions, Configuration and Quality tabs](https://documentation.cluedin.net/assets/images/integration/data-sources/ingest-data-5.png)

    Now, you can add database tables to CluedIn.

## Ingest database tables

With an established connection to the database, you can choose which database tables you want to ingest into CluedIn.

**To ingest database tables**   

1. Open the data source, and then select **Add new table**.

    The **Add data table** pane opens, where you can view all tables existing in the database.

1. Select the checkboxes next to the tables you want to ingest into CluedIn. Then, in the lower-right corner, select **Add**.

    The tables are added to CluedIn. Each table is added as a separate data set. Next, [create mapping](https://documentation.cluedin.net/ingest/mapping/create-mapping.md) and [process data](https://documentation.cluedin.net/ingest/processing/process-data.md).

Up: [Data sources](https://documentation.cluedin.net/ingest/data-sources.md)