# Connecting to your DB instance with Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio
<a name="USER_ConnectToMicrosoftSQLServerInstance.SSMS"></a>

In this procedure, you connect to your sample DB instance by using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). To download a standalone version of this utility, see [Download SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms) in the Microsoft documentation.

**To connect to a DB instance using SSMS**

1. Start SQL Server Management Studio.

   The **Connect to Server** dialog box appears.  
![Connect to Server dialog](http://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/RDSMSFTSQLConnect01.png)

1. Provide the information for your DB instance:

   1. For **Server type**, choose **Database Engine**. 

   1. For **Server name**, enter the DNS name (endpoint) and port number of your DB instance, separated by a comma. 
**Important**  
Change the colon between the endpoint and port number to a comma. 

      Your server name should look like the following example.

      ```
      database-2.cg034itsfake.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com,1433
      ```

   1. For **Authentication**, choose **SQL Server Authentication**. 

   1. For **Login**, enter the master user name for your DB instance. 

   1. For **Password**, enter the password for your DB instance. 

1. Choose **Connect**. 

   After a few moments, SSMS connects to your DB instance.

   If you can't connect to your DB instance, see [Security group considerations](USER_ConnectToMicrosoftSQLServerInstance.Security.md) and [Troubleshooting connections to your SQL Server DB instance](USER_ConnectToMicrosoftSQLServerInstance.Troubleshooting.md). 

1. Your SQL Server DB instance comes with SQL Server's standard built-in system databases (`master`, `model`, `msdb`, and `tempdb`). To explore the system databases, do the following:

   1. In SSMS, on the **View** menu, choose **Object Explorer**.

   1. Expand your DB instance, expand **Databases**, and then expand **System Databases**.  
![Object Explorer displaying the system databases](http://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/SQL-SSMS-SystemDBs.png)

1. Your SQL Server DB instance also comes with a database named `rdsadmin`. Amazon RDS uses this database to store the objects that it uses to manage your database. The `rdsadmin` database also includes stored procedures that you can run to perform advanced tasks. For more information, see [Common DBA tasks for Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server](Appendix.SQLServer.CommonDBATasks.md).

1. You can now start creating your own databases and running queries against your DB instance and databases as usual. To run a test query against your DB instance, do the following:

   1. In SSMS, on the **File** menu point to **New** and then choose **Query with Current Connection**.

   1. Enter the following SQL query.

      ```
      select @@VERSION
      ```

   1. Run the query. SSMS returns the SQL Server version of your Amazon RDS DB instance.  
![SQL Query Window](http://docs.amazonaws.cn/en_us/AmazonRDS/latest/UserGuide/images/SQL-Connect-Query.png)