managing-clr-integration-assemblies.md

title	Manage CLR Integration Assemblies
description	You can host managed DLL assemblies in SQL Server. You can register, alter, and drop assemblies, and also manage associated files and permissions.
author	rwestMSFT
ms.author	randolphwest
ms.date	07/23/2025
ms.service	sql
ms.subservice	clr
ms.topic	reference
helpviewer_keywords	database objects [CLR integration], assemblies common language runtime [SQL Server], assemblies assemblies [CLR integration], managing
dev_langs	TSQL

Manage CLR integration assemblies

[!INCLUDE SQL Server]

Managed code is compiled and then deployed in units called a common language runtime (CLR) assembly. An assembly is packaged as a DLL or executable (.exe) file. While an executable file can run on its own, a DLL must be hosted in an existing application. Managed DLL assemblies can be loaded into and hosted by [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]. [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] requires you to register the assembly in a database using the CREATE ASSEMBLY statement, before it can be loaded in the process and used. Assemblies can also be updated from a more recent version using the ALTER ASSEMBLY statement, or removed from [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion] using the DROP ASSEMBLY statement.

Assembly information is stored in the sys.assembly_files table in the database where the assembly is installed. The sys.assembly_files table contains the following columns.

Column	Description
assembly_id	The identifier defined for the assembly. This number is assigned to all objects relating to the same assembly.
name	The name of the object.
file_id	A number identifying each object, with the first object associated with a given assembly_id being given the value of 1. If multiple objects are associated with the same assembly_id, then each subsequent file_id value is incremented by 1.
content	The hexadecimal representation of the assembly or file.

In this section

Article	Description
Create an assembly	Discusses creating SAFE, EXTERNAL_ACCESS, and UNSAFE CLR assemblies in [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]
Alter an assembly	Describes updating CLR assemblies in [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]
Drop an assembly	Discusses dropping CLR assemblies from [!INCLUDE ssNoVersion]

Code access security no longer supported

[!INCLUDE code-access-security]

Related content

• CLR integration security
• CLR integration code access security