--- title: Configuring Live Connect description: Configure your ServiceNow instance to enable Live Connect access, set up security controls, and install the required drivers on your client machine. locale: en-US canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/api-reference/web-services/configuring-sql-api.html release: australia product: Web Services classification: web-services topic_type: concept last_updated: "2026-09-10" reading_time_minutes: 3 keywords: [configure] breadcrumb: [Access your ServiceNow data using Live Connect, Additional integration resources, Web services, API implementation, API implementation and reference] --- # Configuring Live Connect Configure your ServiceNow instance to enable Live Connect access, set up security controls, and install the required drivers on your client machine. ## Configuration overview Before you begin, confirm the following: - The Live Connect plugin is installed on your instance. - You have consulted your network team to identify the IP address range for your ODBC/JDBC client machines. - You have identified which ServiceNow tables must be accessible via Live Connect. The configuration process involves two main components: 1. Instance setup: - [Install Live Connect on your ServiceNow instance](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/install-sql-api-plugin.md) - [Assign roles and create service accounts](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/create-service-account.md) - [Create Access Control Lists \(ACLs\) for Live Connect](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/create-acls-sql-api.md) - [Create IP filter criteria](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/create-ip-filter-criteria.md) 2. Driver installation and configuration: - [Download the Live Connect drivers on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/download-sql-api-drivers.md) - [Install the ServiceNow Live Connect ODBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/install-odbc-driver.md) - [Configure ServiceNow Live Connect ODBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/configure-odbc-driver.md) - [Configure ServiceNow Live Connect JDBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/configure-jdbc-driver.md) ## After configuration After completing all procedures, your user account can connect to your ServiceNow instance via ODBC or JDBC. You can then query tables for which access has been granted. - Use service accounts for production reports and dashboards. Service accounts promote continuity — personal accounts break if the user loses access or leaves the organization. - Access is not granted globally. A user account can query a table only if it has explicit read access through table-level ACLs \(`egress_sql` and `read`\) or a role with read permissions. - Non-interactive \(machine\) service accounts can't complete MFA challenges. Turn off MFA for those accounts. Personal accounts using OAuth aren't subject to this limitation. - **[Install Live Connect on your ServiceNow instance](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/install-sql-api-plugin.md)** Install Live Connect to enable secure, read-only access to your instance data from external applications. - **[Live Connect configuration on your ServiceNow instance](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/configure-sql-api-overview.md)** Complete the three-step configuration that's required to enable Live Connect access. - **[Enable OAuth for Live Connect](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/enable-oauth-for-live-connect.md)** Configure OAuth as an additional authentication method for Live Connect connections. This adds OAuth alongside basic authentication without replacing it. - **[Download the Live Connect drivers on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/download-sql-api-drivers.md)** Download ODBC and JDBC drivers to enable third-party Business Intelligence tools and data analysis platforms to connect to your ServiceNow instance data. - **[Install the ServiceNow Live Connect ODBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/install-odbc-driver.md)** Use the installation wizard to install the ODBC driver and configure the connection between your Business Intelligence tools and ServiceNow data. - **[Configure ServiceNow Live Connect ODBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/configure-odbc-driver.md)** Configure the ODBC driver with your instance URL, BCFIPS JAR file paths, and authentication credentials to enable BI tools to access your ServiceNow data. - **[Test Live Connect ODBC driver connection](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/test-sql-api-odbc-driver-connection-using-interactive-sql.md)** Use Interactive SQL to verify that the ODBC driver connects to your ServiceNow instance and returns query results. - **[Configure ServiceNow Live Connect JDBC driver on a client machine](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/configure-jdbc-driver.md)** Configure the JDBC driver to connect to your ServiceNow instance and query your data. - **[Route Live Connect calls to Read Replica](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/routing-sql-api-calls-to-read-replica.md)** Route Live Connect calls to a Read Replica database to reduce the processing load on the primary database in your ServiceNow instance. **Parent Topic:**[Access your ServiceNow data using Live Connect](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/api-reference/web-services/accessing-your-servicenow-data-using-sql-api.md)