Configure repositories for installing and upgrading SQL Server 2025 on Linux

Applies to: SQL Server on Linux

This article describes how to configure the correct repository for installing and upgrading SQL Server 2025 (17.x) on Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ubuntu.

For instructions on how to configure repositories for SQL Server 2022 (16.x) and earlier versions, see Configure Repositories for Installing and Upgrading SQL Server on Linux.

Tip

SQL Server 2025 (17.x) is available on RHEL 10 (in preview) and Ubuntu 24.04 (in preview). To try it, use this article to configure the mssql-server-preview repository. Then install using the instructions in the installation guide.

Repositories

When you install SQL Server on Linux, you must configure a Microsoft repository. This repository is used to acquire the database engine package, mssql-server, and related SQL Server packages. There are currently three main repositories:

Repository	Name	Description
2025	mssql-server-2025 1	SQL Server 2025 (17.x) repository.
2022	mssql-server-2022	SQL Server 2022 (16.x) repository.
2019	mssql-server-2019	SQL Server 2019 (15.x) Cumulative Update (CU) repository.
2017	mssql-server-2017	SQL Server 2017 (14.x) Cumulative Update (CU) repository.

¹ Use mssql-server-preview for Red Hat 10 (in preview) and Ubuntu 24.04 (in preview).

The Cumulative Update (CU) repository contains packages for the base SQL Server release, and any bug fixes or improvements since that release. Cumulative updates are specific to a release version, such as SQL Server 2025 (17.x). They're released on a regular cadence. General distribution release (GDR) updates are released in the same CU repository.

Each release contains the full SQL Server package and all previous updates for that repository. You can also downgrade to any release within your major version (for example, 2025).

Configure repositories

Use the steps in the following sections to configure repositories on your Linux distribution.

Check for previously configured repositories

First verify whether you have already registered a SQL Server repository.

RHEL

1. View the files in the /etc/yum.repos.d directory with the following command:

   sudo ls /etc/yum.repos.d
   

2. Look for a file that configures the SQL Server directory, such as mssql-server.repo.

3. Display the contents of the file using cat.

   sudo cat /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo
   

4. The name property is the configured repository. You can identify it with the table in the Repositories section of this article.

Ubuntu

1. View the contents of the /etc/apt/sources.list file.

   sudo cat /etc/apt/sources.list
   

2. Examine the package URL for mssql-server. You can identify it with the table in the Repositories section of this article.

Remove old repository

If necessary, remove the old repository with the following command.

RHEL

sudo rm -rf /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo

This command assumes that the file identified in the previous section was named mssql-server.repo.

Ubuntu

Use one of the following commands based on the type of previously configured repository.

Repository	Command to remove
2025	sudo add-apt-repository -r 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/mssql-server-preview jammy main'
2022	sudo add-apt-repository -r 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/mssql-server-2022 jammy main'
2019 CU	sudo add-apt-repository -r 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/20.04/mssql-server-2019 focal main'
2017 CU	sudo add-apt-repository -r 'deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/18.04/mssql-server-2017 bionic main'

These commands point to the latest repository for a specific distribution. If you use an earlier distribution where that version of SQL Server is still supported, change the path accordingly, and use the correct distribution code name.

Configure new repository

Configure the new repository to use for SQL Server installations and upgrades. Use one of the following commands to configure the repository of your choice.

RHEL

• Starting with SQL Server 2025 (17.x), RHEL 10 is supported (in preview).
• Starting with SQL Server 2022 (16.x) CU 10, RHEL 9 is supported.
• Starting with SQL Server 2017 (14.x) CU 20, RHEL 8 is supported.

The following commands for SQL Server 2019 (15.x) point to the RHEL 8 repository. RHEL 8 doesn't come preinstalled with python2, which SQL Server requires. For more information, see Installing Microsoft SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 Beta.

Depending on the version of RHEL you use, ensure the paths match /rhel/8, /rhel/9, or /rhel10. Our packages are agnostic to RHEL minor versions. This means that if you use RHEL 8.7, you need to use the path /rhel/8 to configure your repository.

Repository	Version	Release	Command
2025	2025	RHEL 10 (in preview)	sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/10/mssql-server-preview.repo
2022	2022	RHEL 9	sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/9/mssql-server-2022.repo
2019 CU	2019	RHEL 8	sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/8/mssql-server-2019.repo
2017 CU	2017	RHEL 8	sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/mssql-server.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/8/mssql-server-2017.repo

Ubuntu

Configure the new repository to use for SQL Server installations and upgrades.

• Starting with SQL Server 2022 (16.x), Ubuntu 24.04 is supported (in preview).
• Starting with SQL Server 2022 (16.x) CU 10, Ubuntu 22.04 is supported.
• Starting with SQL Server 2019 (15.x) CU 10, Ubuntu 20.04 is supported.
• Starting with SQL Server 2019 (15.x) CU 3 and SQL Server 2017 (14.x) CU 20, Ubuntu 18.04 is supported.

The following commands point to the latest repository for a specific distribution. If you use an earlier distribution where that version of SQL Server is still supported, change the path accordingly, and use the correct distribution code name.

1. Import the public repository GPG keys.

   curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.asc
   

2. Use one of the following commands to configure the repository of your choice.

   Repository	Version	Command
   2025	2025	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/mssql-server-preview.list)"
   2022	2022	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/mssql-server-2022.list)"
   2019 CU	2019	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/mssql-server-2019.list)"
   2017 CU	2017	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/mssql-server-2017.list)"

3. Run apt-get update.

   sudo apt-get update
   

If you choose to use a quickstart article, remember that you have already configured the target repository. Don't repeat that step in the tutorial.

Related content

• Quickstart: Install SQL Server and create a database on Red Hat
• Quickstart: Install SQL Server and create a database on SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Quickstart: Install SQL Server and create a database on Ubuntu
• Installation guidance for SQL Server on Linux