# Configure your data providers for DMS Schema Conversion
<a name="getting-started-data-providers"></a>

Next, you create data providers that describe your source and target databases. For each data provider, you specify a data store type and location information. You don't store your database credentials in a data provider.

**To create a data provider for an on-premises database**

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the AWS DMS console.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Data providers**, and then choose **Create data provider**.

1. For **Name**, enter a unique name for your source data provider. For example, enter `sc-dp`.

1. For **Purpose**, select **Schema Conversion**.

1. For **Engine type**, choose the type of database engine for your data provider.

1. Turn on **Virtual mode** if you want to use schema conversion without connecting to a target database. For more information, see [Virtual data provider](virtual-data-provider.md).

1. If **Virtual Mode** is turned on, connection information will be preset automatically using defaults. Note that a virtual data provider can only be used as a target in a migration project or in schema conversion. For more information on virtual mode, see [Virtual data provider](virtual-data-provider.md).

   If **Virtual mode** is off, provide your connection information for the source database. The connection parameters depend on your database engine. For more information, see [ Creating data providers](data-providers-create.md).

1. Select **Engine configuration**. Then select **Enter manually**. Provide your connection information for the source database. The connection parameters depend on your source database engine. For more information, see [ Creating data providers](data-providers-create.md).

1. For **Secure Socket Layer (SSL) mode**, choose the type of SSL enforcement.

1. Choose **Create data provider**.

**To create a data provider for an Amazon RDS database**

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console, and open the AWS DMS console.

1. In the navigation pane, choose **Data providers**, and then choose **Create data provider**.

1. For **Name**, enter a unique name for your source data provider. For example, enter `sc-dp`.

1. For **Purpose**, select **Schema Conversion**.

1. For **Engine type**, choose the type of database engine for your data provider.

1. Turn **Virtual Mode** on, if you intend to use this data provider for schema conversion without connecting to a target database. For more information on virtual mode, see [Virtual data provider](virtual-data-provider.md).

1. Select **Engine configuration**. Select **Choose RDS database instance from list**.

1. For **Database from RDS**, choose **Browse**, and choose your database. DMS Schema Conversion automatically retrieves the information about the engine type, server name, and port.

1. For **Database name**, enter the name of your database.

1. For **Secure Socket Layer (SSL) mode**, choose the type of SSL enforcement.

1. Choose **Create data provider**.