Configure SQL Server settings with environment variables on Linux
Applies to:
SQL Server - Linux
You can use several different environment variables to configure SQL Server 2017 (14.x) on Linux. These variables are used in two scenarios:
You can use several different environment variables to configure SQL Server 2019 (15.x) on Linux. These variables are used in two scenarios:
You can use several different environment variables to configure SQL Server 2022 (16.x) on Linux. These variables are used in two scenarios:
- To configure initial setup with the
mssql-conf setup
command. - To configure a new SQL Server container in Docker.
Tip
If you need to configure SQL Server after these setup scenarios, see Configure SQL Server on Linux with the mssql-conf tool.
Environment variables
Environment variable | Description |
---|---|
ACCEPT_EULA |
Set the ACCEPT_EULA variable to any value to confirm your acceptance of the End-User Licensing Agreement. Required setting for the SQL Server image. |
MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD |
Configure the SA user password. The SA_PASSWORD environment variable is deprecated. Use MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD instead. |
MSSQL_PID |
Set the SQL Server edition or product key. Possible values include:Evaluation Developer Express Web Standard Enterprise 1EnterpriseCore 1A product key If specifying a product key, it must be in the form of #####-#####-#####-#####-#####, where '#' is a number or a letter. |
MSSQL_LCID |
Sets the language ID to use for SQL Server. For example, 1036 is French. |
MSSQL_COLLATION |
Sets the default collation for SQL Server. This overrides the default mapping of language ID (LCID) to collation. |
MSSQL_MEMORY_LIMIT_MB |
Sets the maximum amount of memory (in MB) that SQL Server can use. By default, it's 80% of the total physical memory. |
MSSQL_TCP_PORT |
Configure the TCP port that SQL Server listens on (default 1433). |
MSSQL_IP_ADDRESS |
Set the IP address. Currently, the IP address must be IPv4 style (0.0.0.0). |
MSSQL_BACKUP_DIR |
Set the Default backup directory location. |
MSSQL_DATA_DIR |
Change the directory where the new SQL Server database data files (.mdf ) are created. |
MSSQL_LOG_DIR |
Change the directory where the new SQL Server database log (.ldf ) files are created. |
MSSQL_DUMP_DIR |
Change the directory where SQL Server deposits the memory dumps and other troubleshooting files by default. |
MSSQL_ENABLE_HADR |
Enable Availability Group. For example, '1' is enabled, and '0' is disabled |
MSSQL_AGENT_ENABLED |
Enable SQL Server Agent. For example, 'true' is enabled and 'false' is disabled. By default, agent is disabled. |
MSSQL_MASTER_DATA_FILE |
Sets the location of the master database data file. Must be named master.mdf until first run of SQL Server. |
MSSQL_MASTER_LOG_FILE |
Sets the location of the master database log file. Must be named mastlog.ldf until first run of SQL Server. |
MSSQL_ERROR_LOG_FILE |
Sets the location of the errorlog files. For example, /var/opt/mssql/log/errorlog . |
1 The legacy Enterprise
license represents Enterprise edition with Server + Client Access License (CAL) based licensing, and is limited to a maximum of 20 cores per SQL Server instance. Enterprise
isn't available for new agreements. You should choose EnterpriseCore
when you wish to deploy Enterprise edition. EnterpriseCore
represents the core-based server licensing model with no core limits. For more information, see Compute capacity limits by edition of SQL Server.
Use with initial setup
This example runs mssql-conf setup
with configured environment variables. The following environment variables are specified:
ACCEPT_EULA
accepts the end user license agreement.MSSQL_PID
specifies the freely licensed Developer Edition of SQL Server for non-production use.MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD
sets a strong password.MSSQL_TCP_PORT
sets the TCP port that SQL Server listens on to 1234.
sudo ACCEPT_EULA='Y' MSSQL_PID='Developer' MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD='<YourStrong!Passw0rd>' MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup
Use with Docker
This example docker
command uses the following environment variables to create a new SQL Server container:
ACCEPT_EULA
accepts the end user license agreement.MSSQL_PID
specifies the freely licensed Developer Edition of SQL Server for non-production use.MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD
sets a strong password.MSSQL_TCP_PORT
sets the TCP port that SQL Server listens on to 1234. This means that instead of mapping port 1433 (default) to a host port, the custom TCP port must be mapped with the-p 1234:1234
command in this example.
If you're running Docker on Linux, use the following syntax with single quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID='Developer' -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD='<YourStrong!Passw0rd>' -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2017-latest
If you're running Docker on Windows, use the following syntax with double quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID="Developer" -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD="<YourStrong!Passw0rd>" -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2017-latest
Note
The process for running production editions in containers is slightly different. For more information, see Run production container images.
If you're running Docker on Linux, use the following syntax with single quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID='Developer' -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD='<YourStrong!Passw0rd>' -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest
If you're running Docker on Windows, use the following syntax with double quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID="Developer" -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD="<YourStrong!Passw0rd>" -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest
If you're running Docker on Linux, use the following syntax with single quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID='Developer' -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD='<YourStrong!Passw0rd>' -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
If you're running Docker on Windows, use the following syntax with double quotes:
docker run -e ACCEPT_EULA=Y -e MSSQL_PID="Developer" -e MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD="<YourStrong!Passw0rd>" -e MSSQL_TCP_PORT=1234 -p 1234:1234 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
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