# Working with databases

The database support allows you to read from and write to databases using the Database lookup functions.

Note that Talend Data Mapper functions DatabaseLookup and DatabaseLookupAndUpdate require access to a database server.

To work with databases, you need to start by creating database connections or by importing existing ones from Talend Studio.

When you create a database connection, it collects the database access parameters and creates a set of structures. These structures are not used directly in maps but are needed to allow you to pickup columns when filling the DatabaseLookup function parameters. For more information, see [DatabaseColumn](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-functions-reference-guide/8.0/databasecolumn-function) and [DatabaseFunction](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-functions-reference-guide/8.0/databasefunction-function).

The following documentation in this section explain how to create database connections and how to use them.

### In this section

* [Importing a database connection from Talend Studio](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-user-guide/8.0-R2026-09/importing-database-connection-from-talend-studio)
* [Importing tables from a database](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-user-guide/8.0-R2026-09/importing-tables-from-database)
* [Looking up values in a database](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-user-guide/8.0-R2026-09/looking-up-values-in-database)
* [Migrating from deprecated database functions](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/data-mapper-user-guide/8.0-R2026-09/migrating-from-deprecated-database-functions)