Database Providers

LightNap uses Entity Framework Core for data access and supports multiple database providers. Choose the provider that best fits your deployment scenario and development needs.

Available Providers

SQL Server

Microsoft’s enterprise-grade relational database system. Recommended for production deployments in Azure or on-premises environments.

Best For: Production applications, enterprise environments, Azure deployments

Configuration: Requires connection string to SQL Server instance

SQLite

A lightweight, file-based relational database that doesn’t require a separate server process.

Best For: Development, testing, small deployments, demos

Configuration: Requires file path for database file

In-Memory

A non-persistent database that exists only in memory. Data is lost when the application restarts.

Best For: Development, unit testing, rapid prototyping

Configuration: No connection string needed; data resets on restart

Working with Migrations

Entity Framework Migrations

Learn how to create, apply, and manage Entity Framework migrations to keep your database schema in sync with your entity models.

Important: Migrations must be created separately for each provider (SQL Server and SQLite) when making schema changes.

Choosing a Provider

Scenario Recommended Provider
Production deployment SQL Server
Local development SQLite or In-Memory
Unit/Integration tests In-Memory
Rapid prototyping In-Memory
Simple deployments SQLite
Azure hosting SQL Server

Configuration

Database providers are configured in appsettings.json using the DatabaseProvider setting:

{
  "DatabaseProvider": "SqlServer",  // or "Sqlite" or "InMemory"
  "ConnectionStrings": {
    "DefaultConnection": "Server=..."
  }
}

See Application Configuration for more details.

Switching Providers

To switch between providers:

  1. Update the DatabaseProvider setting in appsettings.json
  2. Update the connection string (if applicable)
  3. Apply migrations for the new provider (if using SQL Server or SQLite)
  4. Restart the application

When switching between providers, you’ll need to re-seed any required data as the databases are independent.

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