Configure repositories for installing and upgrading SQL Server on Linux

• 02/14/2018
• 4 minutes to read
• Contributors
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • 
  • all

APPLIES TO: SQL Server (Linux only) Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Data Warehouse Parallel Data Warehouse

This article describes how to configure the correct repository for SQL Server 2017 and SQL Server 2019 installations and upgrades on Linux.

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:

Cumulative Update versus GDR

It is important to note that there are two main types of repositories for each distribution:

• Cumulative Updates (CU): 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 2017. They are released on a regular cadence.

• GDR: The GDR repository contains packages for the base SQL Server release and only critical fixes and security updates since that release. These updates are also added to the next CU release.

Each CU and GDR release contains the full SQL Server package and all previous updates for that repository. Updating from a GDR release to a CU release is supported by changing your configured repository for SQL Server. You can also downgrade to any release within your major version (ex: 2017).

Configure a repository

The following sections describe how to verify and configure a repository for the following supported platforms:

• Red Hat Enterprise Server
• Ubuntu
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server

Configure RHEL repositories

Use the following steps to configure repositories on Red Hat Enterprise Server (RHEL).

Check for previously configured repositories (RHEL)

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

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. Print out the contents of the file.

   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.

Remove old repository (RHEL)

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

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.

Configure new repository (RHEL)

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.

Configure SLES repositories

Use the following steps to configure repositories on SLES.

Check for previously configured repositories (SLES)

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

1. Use zypper info to get information about any previously configured repository.

   sudo zypper info mssql-server
   

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

Remove old repository (SLES)

If necessary, remove the old repository. Use one of the following commands based on the type of previously configured repository.

Configure new repository (SLES)

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.

Configure Ubuntu repositories

Use the following steps to configure repositories on Ubuntu.

Check for previously configured repositories (Ubuntu)

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

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 (Ubuntu)

If necessary, remove the old repository. Use one of the following commands based on the type of previously configured repository.

Configure new repository (Ubuntu)

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

1. Import the public repository GPG keys.

   sudo curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add -
   

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

   Repository	Version	Command
   Preview (2019)	2019	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-server-preview.list)"
   CU	2017	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-server-2017.list)"
   GDR	2017	sudo add-apt-repository "$(curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-server-2017-gdr.list)"

3. Run apt-get update.

   sudo apt-get update
   

Next steps

After you have configured the correct repository, you can proceed to install or update SQL Server and any related packages from the new repository.

For more information on how to install SQL Server 2017 on Linux, see Installation guidance for SQL Server on Linux.