Rob Farley takes us through updating SQL Server when it lives in a container:
Now, the thing with running SQL in containers is that the concept of downloading a patch file doesn’t work in the same way. If it were regular Linux, the commands would be very simple, such as ‘sudo yum update mssql-server’ in RHEL. But Docker doesn’t quite work the same way, as reflected by the Microsoft documentation which mentions Docker for installing but not in the Update section.
Rob then explains the process. Containers are cattle, not pets. Just make sure your data files live outside the container before you blow it away…