SQL Server on Linux

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THIS TOPIC APPLIES TO: yesSQL Server (Linux only)noAzure SQL DatabasenoAzure SQL Data WarehousenoParallel Data Warehouse

SQL Server 2017 now runs on Linux. It’s the same SQL Server database engine, with many similar features and services regardless of your operating system.

Install

To get started, install SQL Server on Linux using one of the following quickstarts:

Note

Docker itself runs on multiple platforms, which means that you can run the Docker image on Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Connect

After installation, connect to the SQL Server instance on your Linux machine. You can connect locally or remotely and with a variety of tools and drivers. The quickstarts demonstrate how to use the sqlcmd command-line tool. Other tools include the following:

Tool Tutorial
Visual Studio Code (VS Code) Use VS Code with SQL Server on Linux
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) Use SSMS on Windows to connect to SQL Server on Linux
SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) Use SSDT with SQL Server on Linux

Explore

SQL Server 2017 has the same underlying database engine on all supported platforms, including Linux. So many existing features and capabilities operate the same way on Linux. This area of the documentation exposes some of these features from a Linux perspective. It also calls out areas that have unique requirements on Linux.

If you are already familiar with SQL Server, review the Release notes for general guidelines and known issues for this release. Then look at what's new for SQL Server on Linux as well as what's new for SQL Server 2017 overall.

Tip

For answers to frequently asked questions, see the SQL Server on Linux FAQ.

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