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Use PowerShell on Windows to manage SQL Server on Linux

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Applies to: SQL Server - Linux

This article introduces SQL Server PowerShell and walks you through a couple of examples on how to use it with SQL Server on Linux. PowerShell support for SQL Server is currently available on Windows, macOS, & Linux. This article walks you through using a Windows machine to connect to a remote SQL Server instance on Linux.

Install the newest version of SQL PowerShell on Windows

The SQL Server PowerShell module on Windows is maintained in the PowerShell Gallery. When working with SQL Server, you should always use the most recent version of the SqlServer PowerShell module.

Before you begin

Read the Known issues for SQL Server on Linux.

Launch PowerShell and import the sqlserver module

Let's start by launching PowerShell on Windows. Use Win+R, on your Windows computer, and type PowerShell to launch a new Windows PowerShell session.

SQL Server provides a PowerShell module named SqlServer. You can use the SqlServer module to import the SQL Server components (SQL Server provider and cmdlets) into a PowerShell environment or script.

Copy and paste the following command at the PowerShell prompt to import the SqlServer module into your current PowerShell session:

Import-Module SqlServer

Type the following command at the PowerShell prompt to verify that the SqlServer module was imported correctly:

Get-Module -Name SqlServer

PowerShell should display information similar to the following output:

ModuleType Version    Name          ExportedCommands
---------- -------    ----          ----------------
Script     21.1.18102 SqlServer     {Add-SqlAvailabilityDatabase, Add-SqlAvailabilityGroupList...

Connect to SQL Server and get server information

Let's use PowerShell on Windows to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux and display a couple of server properties.

Copy and paste the following commands at the PowerShell prompt. When you run these commands, PowerShell will:

  • Display a dialog that prompts you for the hostname or IP address of your instance
  • Display the Windows PowerShell credential request dialog, which prompts you for the credentials. You can use your SQL username and SQL password to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux
  • Use the Get-SqlInstance cmdlet to connect to the Server and display a few properties

Optionally, you can just replace the $serverInstance variable with the IP address or the hostname of your SQL Server instance.

# Prompt for instance & credentials to login into SQL Server
$serverInstance = Read-Host "Enter the name of your instance"
$credential = Get-Credential

# Connect to the Server and get a few properties
Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance $serverInstance -Credential $credential
# done

PowerShell should display information similar to the following output:

Instance Name                   Version    ProductLevel UpdateLevel  HostPlatform HostDistribution
-------------                   -------    ------------ -----------  ------------ ----------------
your_server_instance            14.0.3048  RTM          CU13         Linux        Ubuntu

Note

If nothing is displayed for these values, the connection to the target SQL Server instance most likely failed. Make sure that you can use the same connection information to connect from SQL Server Management Studio. Then review the connection troubleshooting recommendations.

Use the SQL Server PowerShell Provider

Another option for connecting to your SQL Server instance is to use the SQL Server PowerShell Provider. This provider allows you to navigate SQL Server instance similar to as if you were navigating the tree structure in Object Explorer, but at the cmdline. By default, this provider is presented as a PSDrive named SQLSERVER:\, which you can use to connect and navigate SQL Server instances that your domain account has access to. For more information on how to set up Active Directory authentication for SQL Server on Linux, see Configuration steps.

You can also use SQL authentication with the SQL Server PowerShell Provider. To do this, use the New-PSDrive cmdlet to create a new PSDrive and supply the proper credentials in order to connect.

In this example below, you'll see one example of how to create a new PSDrive using SQL authentication.

# NOTE: We are reusing the values saved in the $credential variable from the above example.
New-PSDrive -Name SQLonDocker -PSProvider SqlServer -Root 'SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost,10002\Default\' -Credential $credential

You can confirm that the drive was created by running the Get-PSDrive cmdlet.

Get-PSDrive

Once you've created your new PSDrive, you can start navigating it.

dir SQLonDocker:\Databases

Here's what the output might look like. You might notice the output is similar to what SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) will display at the Databases node. It displays the user databases, but not the system databases.

Name                 Status           Size     Space  Recovery Compat. Owner
                                            Available  Model     Level
----                 ------           ---- ---------- -------- ------- -----
AdventureWorks2022   Normal      209.63 MB    1.31 MB Simple       130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal      167.00 MB   32.47 MB Simple       110 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal      188.00 MB   78.10 MB Simple       120 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal      172.00 MB   74.76 MB Simple       130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal      208.00 MB   40.57 MB Simple       140 sa

If you need to see all databases on your instance, one option is to use the Get-SqlDatabase cmdlet.

Examine SQL Server error logs

The following steps use PowerShell on Windows to examine error logs connect on your SQL Server instance on Linux. We'll also use the Out-GridView cmdlet to show information from the error logs in a grid view display.

Copy and paste the following commands at the PowerShell prompt. They might take a few minutes to run. These commands do the following:

  • Display a dialog that prompts you for the hostname or IP address of your instance
  • Display the Windows PowerShell credential request dialog, which prompts you for the credentials. You can use your SQL username and SQL password to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux
  • Use the Get-SqlErrorLog cmdlet to connect to the SQL Server instance on Linux and retrieve error logs since Yesterday
  • Pipe the output to the Out-GridView cmdlet

Optionally, you can replace the $serverInstance variable with the IP address or the hostname of your SQL Server instance.

# Prompt for instance & credentials to login into SQL Server
$serverInstance = Read-Host "Enter the name of your instance"
$credential = Get-Credential

# Retrieve error logs since yesterday
Get-SqlErrorLog -ServerInstance $serverInstance -Credential $credential -Since Yesterday | Out-GridView
# done

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