How to Install Microsoft SQL Server on Ubuntu 22.04 Using Docker

At this time of writing, Microsoft SQL Server 2019 does not support Ubuntu 22.04. But if you are Ubuntu 22.04 user, there is another way to install SQL Server in your OS, by using Docker. In this tutorial, I will show you how to install SQL Server on Ubuntu 22.04 using Docker. SQL Server can be used to store spatial databases. It supports ArcGIS Pro, QGIS, and other GIS software. It’s a great spatial database that has been used by millions of users out there.

Steps to Install Microsoft SQL Server on Ubuntu 22.04

Step 1. Install Docker

I assume you have a Ubuntu 22.04 desktop or Server edition. First, we need to install Docker on Ubuntu 22.04. Open the Terminal or connect to the server via SSH and then use this command to prepare some basic stuff.

sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release

And then, these commands to add the Docker repository

sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Now update Ubuntu

sudo apt update

Install Docker

Now use this command to install the Docker engine

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-compose-plugin

Now start Docker and verify the status

sudo service docker start
sudo service docker status

Make sure you get the following output

At this point, we have successfully installed Docker. Now we are ready to install Microsoft SQL Server on our Docker container.

Step 2. Install Microsoft SQL Server 2019 on Docker

First, we need to pull the SQL Server image.

sudo docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

Now let’s create the Docker container

sudo docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<YourStrong@Passw0rd>" \
   -p 1433:1433 --name sql1 --hostname sql1 \
   -d \
   mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

Don’t forget to change <YourStrong@Password> with your own password. Please read the password complexity requirements. For a complete guide and help with installing SQL Server in Docker, please visit this official page.

Check if the new Docker container is up and running

sudo docker ps -a

Output:

At this point, we have successfully installed Microsoft SQL Server 2019 on Ubuntu Docker.

Create a New Database

To create a new database in your SQL Server, you can use the sqlcmd but I will not explain it here. If you prefer the sqlcmd way, please read this article. In this section, I am going to create a new database using Azure Data Studio. It is a free GUI software to manage your SQL Server. It can be used to connect to multiple servers as well as create a new database.

Download and install Azure Data Studio and then create a new connection to the SQL Server we’ve just installed.

Click Create a connection and then enter the SQL Server details

Click Connect to start the connection. Now your SQL Server is ready to be used. To create a new database using Azure Data Studio, right-click on your server and click New Query.

And then type the following command in the query window. Don’t forget to change “test” with your actual database name.

CREATE DATABASE test;
GO

Click Run to execute the query. In a few moments, the new database should be ready.

Done.

Final Thoughts

We went through all the steps to install Microsoft SQL Server 2019 on Ubuntu 22.04 using Docker. It is a pretty long step but I think in the end, we have a good result. Thank you for reading this article and see you in the next articles. Stay safe.