The CData MCP Server for AlloyDB defines each connection to AlloyDB as a named configuration that Claude can use when sending natural language queries.

You create and manage these configurations using the MCP Configuration Tool. The tool automatically handles formatting, storage, and registration with Claude Desktop.

Understanding Connection Configurations

Each connection configuration is stored in a .mcp file. This file includes the details needed to initialize the connector when Claude starts a session.

• On Windows, configuration files are stored in "~/AppData/Roaming/CData/AlloyDB Data Provider/".
• On macOS, configuration files are stored in "~/Library/Application Support/CData/AlloyDB Data Provider/".

The .mcp file is a text file that contains a list of connection properties and a timestamp. For example:

#Tue May 20 15:48:40 EDT 2025
AuthScheme=Basic
User=myUser
Password=myPassword
Security Token=myToken

The configuration tool handles these settings automatically. Each saved configuration enables Claude to launch a dedicated MCP Server instance with the correct connector and options. Manual file editing is not required.

Connecting to AlloyDB

The following connection properties are required in order to connect to AlloyDB.

• Server: The host name or IP of the server hosting the AlloyDB database.
• Port (optional): The port of the server hosting the AlloyDB database. This property is set to 5432 by default.
• User: The user which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
• Password: The password which will be used to authenticate with the AlloyDB server.
• Database (optional): The database to connect to when connecting to the AlloyDB Server. If this is not set, the user's default database will be used.

Authenticating to AlloyDB

Standard Authentication

Standard authentication (using the user/password combination supplied earlier) is the default form of authentication.

No further action is required to leverage Standard Authentication to connect.

pg_hba.conf Auth Schemes

There are additional methods of authentication supported by the server which must be enabled in the pg_hba.conf file on the AlloyDB server.

You may find instructions about authentication setup on the AlloyDB Server here.

MD5

You can authenticate using MD5 password verification by setting the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to md5.

SASL

The server can authenticate by verifying the password with SASL (particularly, SCRAM-SHA-256).

To use this authentication method, set the auth-method in the pg_hba.conf file to scram-sha-256.

Kerberos

The authentication with Kerberos is initiated by AlloyDB Server when the CData MCP Server for AlloyDB is trying to connect to it. Set up Kerberos on the AlloyDB Server to activate this authentication method. Once you have Kerberos authentication set up on the AlloyDB server, see Using Kerberos for details regarding how to authenticate with Kerberos by the server.