Hi @spl_aficionado,
Best (or better) practices depend on your organization's standards. Start with established benchmarks, e.g., CIS, for Microsoft Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, or whatever technologies your implementation uses. These benchmarks will cover authentication, authorization, TLS configuration, etc.
Prefer a custom configuration using the latest Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server--currently 13.2.1-- over Splunk DBX Add-on for Microsoft SQL Server JDBC. The latter is out of date and uses a version of the JDBC driver with known vulnerabilities.
DB Connect should correctly configure the JDBC driver for TLS based on the options you select. If you need to edit the JDBC URL directly, connection properties for authentication, TLS/SSL, etc. are documented at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/jdbc/setting-the-connection-properties?view=sql-server....
If you're trying a specific configuration, and it isn't working, post a redacted copy of your connection string here alongside a summary of your SQL Server configuration, and we can debug it as needed.
