Quickstart: Install SQL Server and create a database on Ubuntu




In this quickstart, you first install SQL Server 2017 on Ubuntu 16.04. Then connect with sqlcmd to create your first database and run queries.
Tip
This tutorial requires user input and an internet connection. If you are interested in the unattended or offline installation procedures, see Installation guidance for SQL Server on Linux.
Prerequisites
You must have a Ubuntu 16.04 machine with at least 2 GB of memory.
To install Ubuntu on your own machine, go to http://www.ubuntu.com/download/server. You can also create Ubuntu virtual machines in Azure. See Create and Manage Linux VMs with the Azure CLI.
Note
At this time, the Windows Subsystem for Linux for Windows 10 is not supported as an installation target.
For other system requirements, see System requirements for SQL Server on Linux.
Install SQL Server
To configure SQL Server on Ubuntu, run the following commands in a terminal to install the mssql-server package.
Important
If you have previously installed a CTP or RC release of SQL Server 2017, you must first remove the old repository before registering one of the GA repositories. For more information, see Change repositories from the preview repository to the GA repository.
Import the public repository GPG keys:
wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add -
Register the Microsoft SQL Server Ubuntu repository:
sudo add-apt-repository "$(wget -qO- https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-server-2017.list)"
Note
This is the Cumulative Update (CU) repository. For more information about your repository options and their differences, see Configure repositories for SQL Server on Linux.
Run the following commands to install SQL Server:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install -y mssql-server
After the package installation finishes, run mssql-conf setup and follow the prompts to set the SA password and choose your edition.
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup
Tip
If you are trying SQL Server 2017 in this tutorial, the following editions are freely licensed: Evaluation, Developer, and Express.
Note
Make sure to specify a strong password for the SA account (Minimum length 8 characters, including uppercase and lowercase letters, base 10 digits and/or non-alphanumeric symbols).
Once the configuration is done, verify that the service is running:
systemctl status mssql-server
If you plan to connect remotely, you might also need to open the SQL Server TCP port (default 1433) on your firewall.
At this point, SQL Server is running on your Ubuntu machine and is ready to use!
Install the SQL Server command-line tools
To create a database, you need to connect with a tool that can run Transact-SQL statements on the SQL Server. The following steps install the SQL Server command-line tools: sqlcmd and bcp.
Use the following steps to install the mssql-tools on Ubuntu.
Import the public repository GPG keys.
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add -
Register the Microsoft Ubuntu repository.
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/msprod.list
Update the sources list and run the installation command with the unixODBC developer package.
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mssql-tools unixodbc-dev
Note
To update to the latest version of mssql-tools run the following commands:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install mssql-tools
Optional: Add
/opt/mssql-tools/bin/
to your PATH environment variable in a bash shell.To make sqlcmd/bcp accessible from the bash shell for login sessions, modify your PATH in the ~/.bash_profile file with the following command:
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bash_profile
To make sqlcmd/bcp accessible from the bash shell for interactive/non-login sessions, modify the PATH in the ~/.bashrc file with the following command:
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc source ~/.bashrc
Tip
Sqlcmd is just one tool for connecting to SQL Server to run queries and perform management and development tasks. Other tools include:
Connect locally
The following steps use sqlcmd to locally connect to your new SQL Server instance.
Run sqlcmd with parameters for your SQL Server name (-S), the user name (-U), and the password (-P). In this tutorial, you are connecting locally, so the server name is
localhost
. The user name isSA
and the password is the one you provided for the SA account during setup.sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P '<YourPassword>'
Tip
You can omit the password on the command line to be prompted to enter it.
Tip
If you later decide to connect remotely, specify the machine name or IP address for the -S parameter, and make sure port 1433 is open on your firewall.
If successful, you should get to a sqlcmd command prompt:
1>
.If you get a connection failure, first attempt to diagnose the problem from the error message. Then review the connection troubleshooting recommendations.
Create and query data
The following sections walk you through using sqlcmd to create a new database, add data, and run a simple query.
Create a new database
The following steps create a new database named TestDB
.
From the sqlcmd command prompt, paste the following Transact-SQL command to create a test database:
CREATE DATABASE TestDB
On the next line, write a query to return the name of all of the databases on your server:
SELECT Name from sys.Databases
The previous two commands were not executed immediately. You must type
GO
on a new line to execute the previous commands:GO
Insert data
Next create a new table, Inventory
, and insert two new rows.
From the sqlcmd command prompt, switch context to the new
TestDB
database:USE TestDB
Create new table named
Inventory
:CREATE TABLE Inventory (id INT, name NVARCHAR(50), quantity INT)
Insert data into the new table:
INSERT INTO Inventory VALUES (1, 'banana', 150); INSERT INTO Inventory VALUES (2, 'orange', 154);
Type
GO
to execute the previous commands:GO
Select data
Now, run a query to return data from the Inventory
table.
From the sqlcmd command prompt, enter a query that returns rows from the
Inventory
table where the quantity is greater than 152:SELECT * FROM Inventory WHERE quantity > 152;
Execute the command:
GO
Exit the sqlcmd command prompt
To end your sqlcmd session, type QUIT
:
QUIT
Connect from Windows
SQL Server tools on Windows connect to SQL Server instances on Linux in the same way they would connect to any remote SQL Server instance.
If you have a Windows machine that can connect to your Linux machine, try the same steps in this topic from a Windows command-prompt running sqlcmd. Just verify that you use the target Linux machine name or IP address rather than localhost, and make sure that TCP port 1433 is open. If you have any problems connecting from Windows, see connection troubleshooting recommendations.
For other tools that run on Windows but connect to SQL Server on Linux, see:
Additional resources
For other installation scenarios, see the following resources:
Upgrade | Learn how to upgrade an existing installation of SQL Server on Linux |
Uninstall | Uninstall SQL Server on Linux |
Unattended install | Learn how to script the installation without prompts |
Offline install | Learn how to manually download the packages for offline installation |
To explore other ways to connect and manage SQL Server, explore the following tools:
Visual Studio Code | A cross-platform GUI code editor that run Transact-SQL statements with the mssql extension. |
SQL Server Operations Studio | A cross-platform GUI database management utility. |
mssql-cli | A cross-platform command-line interface for running Transact-SQL commands. |
SQL Server Management Studio | A Windows-based GUI database management utility that can connect to and manage SQL Server instances on Linux. |
To learn more about writing Transact-SQL statements and queries, see Tutorial: Writing Transact-SQL Statements.
Tip
For answers to frequently asked questions, see the SQL Server on Linux FAQ.