Error: Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

Question

Error: Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

Bharat, Vutukuri (TR Technology) 10

Hi Team

We are using SQL containers in PR check in Github actions.

We are getting Error the following.

**Error: Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest
**
We are using the following Script for SQL containers in Github actions yml file.

services:

sql-data:

image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

env:

SA_PASSWORD: Admin123

ACCEPT_EULA: Y

ports:

- 1501:1433

options: >- # we have to run the db creation inside of a health check or it has a high chance to fail…

--health-cmd="/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P \"Admin123\" -l 30 -Q \"CREATE DATABASE unifiedsearchind_automation; ALTER DATABASE unifiedsearchind_automation SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON;\" || exit 1"

--health-start-period=10s

--health-interval=10s

--health-timeout=5s

--health-retries=10

Can Anyone help us on this?

Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-02T21:04:56.7033333+00:00

Me too.
Anonymous

2024-08-02T23:34:55.6733333+00:00

Same! It's affecting my github actions
Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-03T11:27:09.1533333+00:00

I tried switching to mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest, but that didn't fix the problem. I also tried increasing the health timeout, but that didn't fix it either.

The container logs look good right up until the health check fails:

Server is listening on [ ::1 <ipv6> 1431] accept sockets 1.

Server is listening on [ 127.0.0.1 <ipv4> 1431] accept sockets 1.

Recovery is complete. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

SQL Server is now ready for client connections. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

The default language (LCID 0) has been set for engine and full-text services.
Error: ``Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

Error: One or more containers failed to start.

Christopher Smith 0

My sloppy workaround that temporarily fixed the issue was to revert to mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-CU27-ubuntu-20.04.

I have a sneaking suspicion that something about my workflow has just been silently deprecated. Below is my service definition. I tried running the health check with system rather than sa, and that didn't work.

    services:
      mssql:
        image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest
        env:
          ACCEPT_EULA: Y
          SA_PASSWORD: ComplexPass123!
          MSSQL_PID: Express
        ports:
          - 1433:1433
        options: >-
          --health-cmd="/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P ComplexPass123! -Q 'SELECT 1' || exit 1"
          --health-interval=10s
          --health-timeout=5s
          --health-retries=5
          --health-start-period=10s

Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-03T21:41:32.61+00:00

I also found that my workflows are broken in local docker-compose testing with the latest 2022 container image. Here, the container successfully starts, but it appears that database initialization scripts fail because they run before the service is ready. As best I can tell, wait-for-it.sh is returning a successful connection result before the service is actually ready. If I use a sleep command rather than wait-for-it.sh, my database initializes successfully.

3 answers

Your answer

Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-02T21:04:56.7033333+00:00

Me too.
Anonymous

2024-08-02T23:34:55.6733333+00:00

Same! It's affecting my github actions
Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-03T11:27:09.1533333+00:00

I tried switching to mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest, but that didn't fix the problem. I also tried increasing the health timeout, but that didn't fix it either.

The container logs look good right up until the health check fails:

Server is listening on [ ::1 <ipv6> 1431] accept sockets 1.

Server is listening on [ 127.0.0.1 <ipv4> 1431] accept sockets 1.

Recovery is complete. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.

SQL Server is now ready for client connections. This is an informational message; no user action is required.

The default language (LCID 0) has been set for engine and full-text services.
Error: ``Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

Error: One or more containers failed to start.
Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-03T12:23:44.4+00:00

My sloppy workaround that temporarily fixed the issue was to revert to mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-CU27-ubuntu-20.04.

I have a sneaking suspicion that something about my workflow has just been silently deprecated. Below is my service definition. I tried running the health check with system rather than sa, and that didn't work.

services: mssql: image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest env: ACCEPT_EULA: Y SA_PASSWORD: ComplexPass123! MSSQL_PID: Express ports: - 1433:1433 options: >- --health-cmd="/opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P ComplexPass123! -Q 'SELECT 1' || exit 1" --health-interval=10s --health-timeout=5s --health-retries=5 --health-start-period=10s
Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-03T21:41:32.61+00:00

I also found that my workflows are broken in local docker-compose testing with the latest 2022 container image. Here, the container successfully starts, but it appears that database initialization scripts fail because they run before the service is ready. As best I can tell, wait-for-it.sh is returning a successful connection result before the service is actually ready. If I use a sleep command rather than wait-for-it.sh, my database initializes successfully.

Answer 1

Here's the solution that fixed my Actions workflow. We remove the health checks and add an Actions step that repeatedly attempts to connect to SQL Server and run a simple query until it succeeds, ensuring the server is fully operational before proceeding with database initialization.


    services:
      mssql:
        image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
        env:
          ACCEPT_EULA: Y
          SA_PASSWORD: ComplexPass123!
          MSSQL_PID: Express
        ports:
          - 1433:1433
    
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4

      - name: Wait for SQL Server to be ready
        run: |
          echo "Waiting for SQL Server to be fully operational..."
          until /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P ComplexPass123! -Q "SELECT @@VERSION" > /dev/null 2>&1
          do
            echo "SQL Server is still initializing. Waiting..."
            sleep 5
          done
          echo "SQL Server is now operational."

      - name: Initialize SQL Server
        run: |
          /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd -S localhost -U sa -P ComplexPass123! -i ./scripts/init-db.sql

Christopher Smith 0 Reputation points

2024-08-04T19:17:37.46+00:00

This solution is working in Github Actions, but for some reason my local docker-compose workflow is still broken. The container starts, and I can run my database initialization script, but I then can't connect to the database with either SQL Server Management Studio or pyodbc. Nor do I see any container logs that indicate the container has even received a connection request on port 1433, which is the mapped port. All login attempts just time out.

However, connecting from inside the container with sqlcmd works fine.
I tried several different images, including 'mcr.microsoft.com/azure-sql-edge:latest', and none of them worked.

Answer 2

Azamat Tashu 0

Starting with SQL Server 2019 (15.x) CU28, container images include the new mssql-tools18 package. The previous directory /opt/mssql-tools/bin is phased out. The new directory for Microsoft ODBC 18 tools is /opt/mssql-tools18/bin, aligning with the latest tools offering. For more information about changes and security enhancements, see ODBC Driver 18.0 for SQL Server Released.

You can add -N -C as a workaround, like:
/opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd -U sa -P Password123! -Q 'select 1' -N -C

Answer 3

Bharat, Vutukuri (TR Technology) 10

We replaced tools with tools18 and added -C in the command. It works for us.

/opt/mssql-tools18/bin/sqlcmd -C -S localhost

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Error: Failed to initialize container mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

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