A Fine Slice Of SQL Server
As of CTP 2.1 for SQL Server 2017 a set of new environment variables are available. These variables allow us to configure each SQL Server container as we spin them up. The first version of SQL Server on Linux came with:
ACCEPT_EULA
SA_PASSWORDThese had to be set for the container to start. The SA_PASSWORD has be a complex password or the container will not start. CTP 2.1 introduced:
Read on for the new variables and an example on how to use them.
Comments closedDavid Klee explains the benefits of SQL Server on Linux:
First and foremost (IMHO), Microsoft wants to appeal to developers. They want their development stack to run anywhere there are developers. Notably, Microsoft just released Visual Studio 2017 for Mac on May 10th! Many developers out there run on non-Microsoft workstations, notably Apple computers. Apple’s OSX operating system is originally derived from the FreeBSD operating system. FreeBSD and other *BSD operating systems share much in common with Linux. So, if you can make SQL Server work on the Apple, you’ve probably made it work on Linux. Arguably, covering these two platforms nails just about every widely adopted development platform out there.
Microsoft also wants to appeal to a broader customer base, which means exploring the other environments that software runs on. An exceptionally high number of the world’s servers are powered by Linux. It’s lean, mean, stable, and powerful. Lots of shops refuse to run a Windows-based server because of a number of reasons, including that their in-house IT staff only have Linux knowledge. These same shops are most likely pressured to run a SQL Server for various applications. I know a number of third-party vended application that require a SQL Server, and previously if an organization dictated no Windows-based servers, that meant that this application would never be adopted in the organization, no matter how well it would function.
David provides a good explanation and sets up the context behind his upcoming SQL Server on Linux series.
Comments closedChrissy LeMaire explains the Linux packaging model and the long-term vision for Powershell:
So Joey comes up and says “Chrissy, Aaron Nelson has pretty much required me to talk to you. The SQL Community has the #1 PowerShell UserVoice request. We see that – we’ve heard you, The People want Out-DataTable and we agree. Would you be happy if we added it to the PowerShell Gallery first?”
“Uh, no! I want Out-DataTable to be a first class citizen like Out-GridView.”
“But where we’re going with PowerShell — we’re going smaller – to just core files, then you add on from the Gallery as desired.”
“Oh dang, like Linux! I’m liking it, keep talking.”
“To be clear, this is post 6.0. In the 6.0 timeframe, but we want to decouple as many release trains as possible, like PowerShellGet and PSReadline. But we’ll still very well package the ‘uber-complete, awesome devops tool edition’ of PowerShell. In the meantime, you could setup a metapackage for just your database stuff.”
“So it is like Linux patterns! PowerShell Gallery does that? I’m sold.”
Chrissy goes on to explain what a Powershell Gallery metapackage module is, how to create one, and even how to publish one yourself.
Comments closedNow we are ready to attach the database using the TSQL below. For this demo, I used Management Studio from my Laptop, to connect to SQL Server.
In the TSQL we need to use the FOR ATTACH_REBUILD_LOG argument as we have no log file to attach. It will create a 1MB log file in the default log file directory.
It’s better to restore a full backup, but there’s more than one way to connect a database.
Comments closedSteve Jones has a post on upgrading SQL Server on Linux:
I’m cutting off part of the path, since I think it’s probably NDA. No worries, apparently the old location for me hasn’t been updated with new packages, which makes sense.
I decided to check the MS docs and see how a new user would get SSoL running? At the new docs.microsoft site, I found the Install SQL Server on Ubuntu doc.
Following the instructions, I updated the GPG keys and registered the repository with curl:
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add - curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-server.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-server.list
My expectation is that upgrading SQL Server on Linux is going to be a lot less painful than upgrading on Windows.
Comments closedMark Broadbent shows how to set up SMB shares in Linux:
This quick guide is specifically targetted to the Linux Mint distribution (although will be applicable to many others) and only describes how to share your Linux filesystem folders and does not go into any detail regarding the advanced Samba functionality.
Even though Linux Mint attempts to make folder sharing more user-friendly, I have never had any success using the GUI based procedure, and have even struggled with the following method described in this article. Furthermore, I prefer to understand what is being configured behind the scenes, so I shall keep to the point and keep it simple.
Very useful post, given the cross-platform move Microsoft is making.
Comments closedMona Nasr and Andy Gonzalez are looking for tool translation support:
Community has completed the translations for VScode SQL Server extension for six languages: Brazilian, French, Japanese, Italian, Russian, and Spanish.
We still need help with other languages. If you know anyone with language expertise, refer them to the Team Page.
Your contributions are valuable and will help us improve the product in your languages. We hope to continue working with the community in future projects.
Hit up the Team Page link to learn more about how to contribute.
Comments closedSlava Murygin points out that for SQL Server on Linux, case sensitivity matters a lot:
So, in that manner, SQL Server files will be located in “c:\var\opt\mssql\” directory!
Isn’t it simple?!!!
There will be no effort at all to refurbish old SQL SQL Server code for new Linux platforms!Here I’ll give you an example of Database creation using different addressing methods:
1. I use Windows notation for data file and Linux notation for log file.
2. Because Linux systems are case sensitive it is very important to know it when you work with Linux. However, Microsoft allows you to be reluctant. You can use upper or lower case in the order you want.
Click through for an example.
Comments closedAll these problems are expected. Prior experience shows that changing SQL Server port makes reading Error Log file impossible.
Besides of inability to read error log all other functions work fine.
I’m thinking this bug will get fixed pretty soon. Read the whole thing.
Comments closedRob Sewell confirms that Test-DbaLastBackup in the dbatools kit works for Linux:
I have written about Test-DbaLastBackup in posts here, here and here. They have been Windows only posts.
With SQL Server vNext CTP 1.4 now available and providing SQL Agent capability on Linux, I wrote here about using Ola Hallengrens scripts on Linux SQL Servers so can Test-DbaLastBackup work with Linux?
It’s a short post but good to know.
Comments closed