This section provides deployment options for your environment.
sqlcmd doesn't currently support the MSSQL_PID parameter when creating containers. If you use the sqlcmd instructions in this tutorial, you create a container with the Developer edition of SQL Server. Use the command line interface (CLI) instructions to create a container using the license of your choice. For more information, see Deploy and connect to SQL Server Linux containers.
Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.
This command creates a SQL Server 2017 (14.x) container with the Developer edition (default). SQL Server port 1433 is exposed on the host as port 1401. The optional -v sql1data:/var/opt/mssql parameter creates a data volume container named sql1data. This is used to persist the data created by SQL Server.
To view your containers, use the docker ps command.
sudo docker ps -a
If the STATUS column shows a status of Up, then SQL Server is running in the container and listening on the port specified in the PORTS column. If the STATUS column for your SQL Server container shows Exited, see Troubleshoot SQL Server Docker containers.
$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
941e1bdf8e1d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server/mssql-server-linux "/bin/sh -c /opt/m..." About an hour ago Up About an hour 0.0.0.0:1401->1433/tcp sql1
Open a bash terminal on Linux.
Pull the SQL Server 2019 (15.x) Linux container image from the Microsoft Container Registry.
Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.
This command creates a SQL Server 2019 (15.x) container with the Developer edition (default). SQL Server port 1433 is exposed on the host as port 1401. The optional -v sql1data:/var/opt/mssql parameter creates a data volume container named sql1data. This is used to persist the data created by SQL Server.
To view your containers, use the docker ps command.
sudo docker ps -a
If the STATUS column shows a status of Up, then SQL Server is running in the container and listening on the port specified in the PORTS column. If the STATUS column for your SQL Server container shows Exited, see Troubleshoot SQL Server Docker containers.
$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
941e1bdf8e1d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server/mssql-server-linux "/bin/sh -c /opt/m..." About an hour ago Up About an hour 0.0.0.0:1401->1433/tcp sql1
Open a bash terminal on Linux.
Pull the SQL Server 2022 (16.x) Linux container image from the Microsoft Container Registry.
Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.
This command creates a SQL Server 2022 (16.x) container with the Developer edition (default). SQL Server port 1433 is exposed on the host as port 1401. The optional -v sql1data:/var/opt/mssql parameter creates a data volume container named sql1data. This is used to persist the data created by SQL Server.
To view your containers, use the docker ps command.
sudo docker ps -a
If the STATUS column shows a status of Up, then SQL Server is running in the container and listening on the port specified in the PORTS column. If the STATUS column for your SQL Server container shows Exited, see Troubleshoot SQL Server Docker containers.
$ sudo docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
941e1bdf8e1d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server/mssql-server-linux "/bin/sh -c /opt/m..." About an hour ago Up About an hour 0.0.0.0:1401->1433/tcp sql1
Change the SA password
The sa account is a system administrator on the SQL Server instance that's created during setup. After you create your SQL Server container, the MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD environment variable you specified is discoverable by running echo $MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD in the container. For security purposes, change your sa password:
Choose a strong password to use for the sa account. Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.
Use docker exec to run the sqlcmd utility to change the password through a Transact-SQL statement. Replace <old-password> and <new-password> with your own password values:
Important
The SA_PASSWORD environment variable is deprecated. Use MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD instead.
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<old-password>' \
-Q 'ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD="<new-password>"'
docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd `
-S localhost -U sa -P "<old-password>" `
-Q "ALTER LOGIN sa WITH PASSWORD='<new-password>'"
Next, download the WideWorldImporters-Full.bak file to your host machine. The following commands navigate to the home/user directory and downloads the backup file as wwi.bak.
cd ~
curl -L -o wwi.bak 'https://github.com/Microsoft/sql-server-samples/releases/download/wide-world-importers-v1.0/WideWorldImporters-Full.bak'
Use docker cp to copy the backup file into the container in the /var/opt/mssql/backup directory.
sudo docker cp wwi.bak sql1:/var/opt/mssql/backup
Restore the database
The backup file is now located inside the container. Before restoring the backup, it's important to know the logical file names and file types inside the backup. The following Transact-SQL commands inspect the backup and perform the restore using sqlcmd in the container.
Tip
This tutorial uses sqlcmd inside the container, because the container comes with this tool pre-installed. However, you can also run Transact-SQL statements with other client tools outside of the container, such as SQL Server extension for Visual Studio Code or Use SQL Server Management Studio on Windows to manage SQL Server on Linux. To connect, use the host port that was mapped to port 1433 in the container. In this example, that is localhost,1401 on the host machine and Host_IP_Address,1401 remotely.
Run sqlcmd inside the container to list out logical file names and paths inside the backup. This is done with the RESTORE FILELISTONLY Transact-SQL statement.
Call the RESTORE DATABASE command to restore the database inside the container. Specify new paths for each of the files in the previous step.
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'RESTORE DATABASE WideWorldImporters FROM DISK = "/var/opt/mssql/backup/wwi.bak" WITH MOVE "WWI_Primary" TO "/var/opt/mssql/data/WideWorldImporters.mdf", MOVE "WWI_UserData" TO "/var/opt/mssql/data/WideWorldImporters_userdata.ndf", MOVE "WWI_Log" TO "/var/opt/mssql/data/WideWorldImporters.ldf", MOVE "WWI_InMemory_Data_1" TO "/var/opt/mssql/data/WideWorldImporters_InMemory_Data_1"'
You should see an output similar to the following:
Processed 1464 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_Primary' on file 1.
Processed 53096 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_UserData' on file 1.
Processed 33 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_Log' on file 1.
Processed 3862 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_InMemory_Data_1' on file 1.
Converting database 'WideWorldImporters' from version 852 to the current version 869.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 852 to version 853.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 853 to version 854.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 854 to version 855.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 855 to version 856.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 856 to version 857.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 857 to version 858.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 858 to version 859.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 859 to version 860.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 860 to version 861.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 861 to version 862.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 862 to version 863.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 863 to version 864.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 864 to version 865.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 865 to version 866.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 866 to version 867.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 867 to version 868.
Database 'WideWorldImporters' running the upgrade step from version 868 to version 869.
RESTORE DATABASE successfully processed 58455 pages in 18.069 seconds (25.273 MB/sec).
Verify the restored database
Run the following query to display a list of database names in your container:
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'SELECT name FROM sys.databases'
You should see WideWorldImporters in the list of databases.
Make a change
Follow these steps to make a change in the database.
Run a query to view the top 10 items in the Warehouse.StockItems table.
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'SELECT TOP 10 StockItemID, StockItemName FROM WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems ORDER BY StockItemID'
You should see a list of item identifiers and names:
StockItemID StockItemName
----------- -----------------
1 USB missile launcher (Green)
2 USB rocket launcher (Gray)
3 Office cube periscope (Black)
4 USB food flash drive - sushi roll
5 USB food flash drive - hamburger
6 USB food flash drive - hot dog
7 USB food flash drive - pizza slice
8 USB food flash drive - dim sum 10 drive variety pack
9 USB food flash drive - banana
10 USB food flash drive - chocolate bar
Update the description of the first item with the following UPDATE statement:
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'UPDATE WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems SET StockItemName="USB missile launcher (Dark Green)" WHERE StockItemID=1; SELECT StockItemID, StockItemName FROM WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems WHERE StockItemID=1'
You should see an output similar to the following text:
After you've restored your database into a container, you might also want to regularly create database backups inside the running container. The steps follow a similar pattern to the previous steps but in reverse.
Use the BACKUP DATABASE Transact-SQL command to create a database backup in the container. This tutorial creates a new backup file, wwi_2.bak, in the previously created /var/opt/mssql/backup directory.
sudo docker exec -it sql1 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q "BACKUP DATABASE [WideWorldImporters] TO DISK = N'/var/opt/mssql/backup/wwi_2.bak' WITH NOFORMAT, NOINIT, NAME = 'WideWorldImporters-full', SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10"
You should see output similar to the following:
10 percent processed.
20 percent processed.
30 percent processed.
40 percent processed.
50 percent processed.
60 percent processed.
70 percent processed.
Processed 1200 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_Primary' on file 1.
Processed 53096 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_UserData' on file 1.
80 percent processed.
Processed 3865 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_InMemory_Data_1' on file 1.
Processed 938 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters', file 'WWI_Log' on file 1.
100 percent processed.
BACKUP DATABASE successfully processed 59099 pages in 25.056 seconds (18.427 MB/sec).
Next, copy the backup file out of the container and onto your host machine.
cd ~
sudo docker cp sql1:/var/opt/mssql/backup/wwi_2.bak wwi_2.bak
ls -l wwi*
Use the persisted data
In addition to taking database backups for protecting your data, you can also use data volume containers. The beginning of this tutorial created the sql1 container with the -v sql1data:/var/opt/mssql parameter. The sql1data data volume container persists the /var/opt/mssql data even after the container is removed. The following steps completely remove the sql1 container and then create a new container, sql2, with the persisted data.
Stop the sql1 container.
sudo docker stop sql1
Remove the container. This doesn't delete the previously created sql1data data volume container and the persisted data in it.
sudo docker rm sql1
Create a new container, sql2, and reuse the sql1data data volume container.
The Wide World Importers database is now in the new container. Run a query to verify the previous change you made.
sudo docker exec -it sql2 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'SELECT StockItemID, StockItemName FROM WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems WHERE StockItemID=1'
The sa password isn't the password you specified for the sql2 container, MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<password>. All of the SQL Server data was restored from sql1, including the changed password from earlier in the tutorial. In effect, some options like this are ignored due to restoring the data in /var/opt/mssql. For this reason, the password is <new-password> as shown here.
Stop the sql1 container.
sudo docker stop sql1
Remove the container. This doesn't delete the previously created sql1data data volume container and the persisted data in it.
sudo docker rm sql1
Create a new container, sql2, and reuse the sql1data data volume container.
The Wide World Importers database is now in the new container. Run a query to verify the previous change you made.
sudo docker exec -it sql2 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'SELECT StockItemID, StockItemName FROM WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems WHERE StockItemID=1'
The sa password isn't the password you specified for the sql2 container, MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<password>. All of the SQL Server data was restored from sql1, including the changed password from earlier in the tutorial. In effect, some options like this are ignored due to restoring the data in /var/opt/mssql. For this reason, the password is <new-password> as shown here.
Stop the sql1 container.
sudo docker stop sql1
Remove the container. This doesn't delete the previously created sql1data data volume container and the persisted data in it.
sudo docker rm sql1
Create a new container, sql2, and reuse the sql1data data volume container.
The Wide World Importers database is now in the new container. Run a query to verify the previous change you made.
sudo docker exec -it sql2 /opt/mssql-tools/bin/sqlcmd \
-S localhost -U sa -P '<new-password>' \
-Q 'SELECT StockItemID, StockItemName FROM WideWorldImporters.Warehouse.StockItems WHERE StockItemID=1'
The sa password isn't the password you specified for the sql2 container, MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<password>. All of the SQL Server data was restored from sql1, including the changed password from earlier in the tutorial. In effect, some options like this are ignored due to restoring the data in /var/opt/mssql. For this reason, the password is <new-password> as shown here.
Caution
Your password should follow the SQL Server default password policy. By default, the password must be at least eight characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, base-10 digits, and symbols. Passwords can be up to 128 characters long. Use passwords that are as long and complex as possible.
Create a container and restore a database
You can use a single command in sqlcmd (Go) to create a new container, and restore a database to that container to create a new local copy of a database, for development or testing. For more information, see Create and query a SQL Server container.
Create a new SQL Server instance in a container using the latest version of SQL Server. The command also restores the WideWorldImporters database.
Open a new terminal window and run the following command:
Follow these steps to make a change in the database.
Run a query to view the top 10 items in the Warehouse.StockItems table.
sqlcmd -Q "SELECT TOP 10 StockItemID, StockItemName FROM Warehouse.StockItems ORDER BY StockItemID"
You should see a list of item identifiers and names:
StockItemID StockItemName
----------- -----------------
1 USB missile launcher (Green)
2 USB rocket launcher (Gray)
3 Office cube periscope (Black)
4 USB food flash drive - sushi roll
5 USB food flash drive - hamburger
6 USB food flash drive - hot dog
7 USB food flash drive - pizza slice
8 USB food flash drive - dim sum 10 drive variety pack
9 USB food flash drive - banana
10 USB food flash drive - chocolate bar
Update the description of the first item with the following UPDATE statement:
sqlcmd -Q "UPDATE Warehouse.StockItems SET StockItemName='USB missile launcher (Dark Green)' WHERE StockItemID=1; SELECT StockItemID, StockItemName FROM Warehouse.StockItems WHERE StockItemID=1"
You should see an output similar to the following text:
After you've restored your database into a container, you might also want to regularly create database backups inside the running container. The steps follow a similar pattern to the previous steps but in reverse.
Use the BACKUP DATABASE Transact-SQL command to create a database backup in the container. This tutorial creates a new backup file, wwi_2.bak in the /var/opt/mssql/backup directory.
sqlcmd -Q "BACKUP DATABASE [WideWorldImporters-Full] TO DISK = N'/var/opt/mssql/backup/wwi_2.bak' WITH NOFORMAT, NOINIT, NAME = 'WideWorldImporters-full', SKIP, NOREWIND, NOUNLOAD, STATS = 10"
You should see output similar to the following:
10 percent processed.
20 percent processed.
Processed 1536 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters-Full', file 'WWI_Primary' on file 1.
Processed 53112 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters-Full', file 'WWI_UserData' on file 1.
Processed 3865 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters-Full', file 'WWI_InMemory_Data_1' on file 1.
Processed 287 pages for database 'WideWorldImporters-Full', file 'WWI_Log' on file 1.
100 percent processed.
BACKUP DATABASE successfully processed 58800 pages in 3.536 seconds (129.913 MB/sec).
Next, copy the backup file out of the container and onto your host machine.
cd ~
sudo docker cp sql1:/var/opt/mssql/backup/wwi_2.bak wwi_2.bak
ls -l wwi*
Clean up
Now that the backup has been copied off the container, it can be cleaned up. The following steps completely remove the sql1 container.
Remove the container. sqlcmd has built-in safeguards to prevent deleting a container that is in use. The way it determines if a container is still in use is whether it has any user databases. For production scenarios, you should delete user databases individually after verifying they are no long in use. For development/testing we can use the --force parameter to delete the container without deleting the user database.
sqlcmd delete --force
Next step
In this tutorial, you learned how to back up a database on Windows and move it to a Linux server running SQL Server 2017 (14.x) in a container. You learned how to:
In this tutorial, you learned how to back up a database on Windows and move it to a Linux server running SQL Server 2019 (15.x) in a container. You learned how to:
In this tutorial, you learned how to back up a database on Windows and move it to a Linux server running SQL Server 2022 (16.x) in a container. You learned how to:
Create SQL Server Linux container images.
Copy SQL Server database backups into a container.
Run Transact-SQL statements with sqlcmd.
Create and extract backup files from a container.
Use data volume containers to persist SQL Server production data.
Next, review other container configuration and troubleshooting scenarios:
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