• Contained Availability Groups
• Enhancements to Availability Groups and Distributed Availability Groups
• Query Store enhancements, including being available on secondary replicas
• Parameter Sensitive Plan (PSP) optimization
• Ledger to help assure data hasn’t been tampered with

You can learn more about SQL Server 2022 on the What’s new in SQL Server 2022 – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs site.

Now, how can you explore SQL Server 2022’s new features?

Test Driving SQL Server 2022

Containers are a great way to explore new versions of a product like SQL Server without having to actually install bits on your computer that you’ll later want to remove. Containers are lightweight, standalone, and have everything required to run SQL Server. There’s nothing to install directly on your host machine. And nothing to remove later, except, of course, the container and image file. But those won’t leave remnants of SQL Server in your registry or file system.

Prerequisites

To use SQL Server in a Docker container, you’ll need the Docker Desktop. There are versions for most every desktop platform, including Windows, Mac, and Linux. In Getting Started with SQL Server in a Docker Container – The SERO Group, I walk through the process of configuring Docker Desktop for a Windows 10 client. If you don’t already have the Docker Desktop installed, do that first.

Pulling the SQL Server 2022 container image

Once you have Docker Desktop in place, you can pull (download) the SQL Server 2022 image using the following command in the Windows command prompt.

docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

Starting the SQL Server 2022 container

Once the pull has completed, you can create the container from the image using the following command.

docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=iO1$6sJ&64YRCJAx" -p 1433:1433 --name sql2022ctp1 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest

The ACCEPT_EULA parameter indicates that you agree to Microsoft’s End User Licensing Agreement. SA_PASSWORD parameter is where you set the sa password for this instance. You’ll want to replace iO1$6sJ&64YRCJAx in the example above with a complex password of your choosing.

The -p parameter allows you to map a TCP port on the host environment to a port in the container. In this example, I’m mapping the default host environment port of 1433 to the container port of 1433.

Set the name for your container using the –name parameter. I’m naming this one sql2022ctp1.

And finally, the -d parameter is the name of the container image your want to run.

Listing your containers

You can use the following command to list all containers in your Docker environment.

docker ps -a

You can see that this Docker environment has two SQL Server 2019 containers, sql2019 and sql2019a, along with our newly created container, sql2022ctp1. The sql2022ctp1 container is running. The other two are not.

You can also see your containers in the Docker Desktop as shown below.

Querying the SQL Server 2022 instance

Using Azure Data Studio or SQL Server Management Studio, you can connect to your new SQL Server 2022 instance and query as normal from your host operating system. For example, running the following query in Azure Data Studio will return the SQL Server Edition, Version, and Product Level.

SELECT  SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS SQLEdition,
        SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion,
        SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel;

You can use the following query to review information about the host operating system.

SELECT  host_platform, 
        host_distribution, 
        host_release
FROM    sys.dm_os_host_info;

Exploring SQL Server 2022’s new features

Now that you have a working SQL Server 2022 instance, you can begin exploring its new features.

For example, I’d like to better understand the new Parameter Sensitivity Plan (PSP) optimization enhancements. So, I restored a copy of the BaseballData database that I sometimes use for testing and demos. See Getting Started with SQL Server in a Docker Container – The SERO Group for how to restore a backup to your container.

Next, I set the compatibility level of the BaseballData database to 160 and enable Query Store using the following t-sql commands.

ALTER DATABASE BaseballData  
SET COMPATIBILITY_LEVEL = 160;  

ALTER DATABASE BaseballData 
SET QUERY_STORE (QUERY_CAPTURE_MODE = auto);

To verify that setting the compatibility level to 160 enabled PSP optimization, I can run the following query.

SELECT name, value, is_value_default
FROM sys.database_scoped_configurations
WHERE name = 'PARAMETER_SENSITIVE_PLAN_OPTIMIZATION'

Now I can begin experimenting how PSP optimization affects my queries. For more information about PSP optimization, see Parameter Sensitivity Plan optimization – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs.

Stopping and starting your Docker container

You can leave your container running all the time if you wish. However, if you like to stop it and start it again later, you can with the following command, where sql2022ctp1 is the name you gave to your container.

docker stop sql2022ctp1

To start the container later, use the following.

docker start sql2022ctp1

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The post Use a Docker Container to Explore SQL Server 2022’s New Features appeared first on The SERO Group.

Using a Docker host folder for a SQL Server database

For this example, I’m assuming you already have Docker Desktop installed and a SQL Server image available. If not, go back to the Getting Started blog before continuing. As before, I’m using a Windows host computer and SQL Server 2019 in a Ubuntu Linux image. A similar approach will work for other hosts and images.

Mounting a host folder to a Docker container

To use a host folder from inside the Docker container, we must mount the folder when we first run the container. We do this by adding the -v parameter to the same docker run command we used before.

docker run -v C:\Users\JoeWebb\sql:/mnt/myhost/sql  -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=34r0TNhvgOde" -p 1433:1433 --name sql2019a -h sql2019 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

The -v parameter mounts the host volume to a folder in the container. In this example, I’m mounting the C:\Users\JoeWebb\sql folder to /mnt/myhost/sql in the container. If the mount location in the container doesn’t already exist, it will be created for you.

To briefly recap the other parameters, the ACCEPT_EULA parameter is where you agree to Microsoft’s End User Licensing Agreement, EULA. You set the sa password for the SQL instance using the SA_PASSWORD parameter. Map TCP ports using the -p parameter in the format <host port>:<container port>. Set the name for your container using the –name parameter and set your container’s hostname using the -h parameter. The -d parameter the image file to use.

Use the following command to verify that the container now has access to the mounted volume. The ls command list the contents of the mounted folder.

docker exec -it sql2019a ls -al /mnt/myhost/sql

The container can see host folder and lists its two subfolders, backup and data.

Attaching a database in the mounted host folder

Now that the host folder is available in your container, let’s attach the AdventureWorks2014 database to the sql2019a SQL Server instance. Open your favorite SQL Server query editor – Azure Data Studio, SQL Server Management Studio, Visual Studio Code, etc – and connect to the sql2019a instance. Run the following T-SQL command to attach the database. Notice that the data and log files are in the /mnt/myhost/sql/data folder.

CREATE DATABASE AdventureWorks2014 
ON
( NAME = AdventureWorks2014,
    FILENAME = '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/AdventureWorks2014_Data.mdf'), 
    (FILENAME = '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/AdventureWorks2014_Log.ldf')
    FOR ATTACH ;

Now you have the AdventureWorks2014 database available in the sql2019a instance, yet the data and log files actually live outside the container in a Docker host folder.

Restoring a database in the mounted folder.

You can also restore a database to the mounted folder. However with the current images and Docker versions, there seems to be a slight issue doing this directly. When you try to restore a database to a mounted folder, you may receive an error like:

Msg 3634, Level 16, State 1, Line 2
The operating system returned the error ‘2(The system cannot find the file specified.)’ while attempting ‘RestoreContainer::ValidateTargetForCreation’ on ‘/mnt/myhost/sql/data/Baseball_Data.mdf’.

See sql server – Restore database in docker container – Stack Overflow for more information.

The work around for this is to first create an empty database on the mounted folder. Then restore the database from the backup file using WITH REPLACE.

Here a short script to restore the BaseballData database.

CREATE DATABASE BaseballData 
ON
( NAME = BaseBallData_Data,
    FILENAME = '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/BaseBallData_data.mdf',
    SIZE = 10,
    MAXSIZE = 100,
    FILEGROWTH = 5 )
LOG ON
( NAME = BaseBallData_log,
    FILENAME = '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/BaseBallData_log.ldf',
    SIZE = 5MB,
    MAXSIZE = 100MB,
    FILEGROWTH = 5MB ) ;


GO

RESTORE DATABASE BaseBallData 
    FROM DISK='/mnt/myhost/sql/backup/BaseBallData.bak' 
    WITH REPLACE,
    MOVE 'LahmansBaseballDB' TO '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/BaseballData_data.mdf', 
    MOVE 'LahmansBaseballDB_log' TO '/mnt/myhost/sql/data/BaseballData_log.ldf';

Note: when you use the -v parameter to mount a folder in the container, Docker Desktop may warn you that performance could be an issue. You’ll certainly want to test to see if that’s the case for you.

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The post How to Use a Docker Host Folder for a SQL Server Database appeared first on The SERO Group.

A SQL Server Docker container image is a lightweight and standalone package that includes everything needed to run SQL Server. It’s often used in DevOps as part of the Continuous Integration / Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) processes. Using containers, SQL Server systems can be quickly and easily configured and reconfigured programmatically for dev, test, QA, and demo environments.

Using SQL Server in a Docker Container

The first experience many of have with SQL Server in a Docker container is setting up a development or demo system on a laptop or desktop. The process can initially seem a bit foreign so let’s walk through it here.

Install the Docker Engine

The first step is installing the Docker Desktop. There are versions of the Docker Desktop available for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Choose the one that’s right for you and download it. I’m installing on Windows 10 Enterprise in this example.

There are plenty of good how-tos on the internet for installing Docker. So, I won’t go into much detail here other than to highlight a couple of potential gotchas.

Once downloaded, run the Docker Desktop Installer.exe file. It may take several minutes to unpack and load everything it needs.

After the install program has completed, you’re prompted to restart your Windows computer. I frequently do not worry with restart messages. However, in this case, it is usually needed. If you launch the Docker Desktop app without a restart, you may get this Docker Desktop – Access denied message. A restart will typically resolve it.

Also, if your Docker Engine will not start, you may have to update the Linux kernel update package for WSL.

Pull the SQL Server Docker container image

Once your Docker Engine is running, use the following Windows command to pull, or download, the latest SQL Server Docker container image.

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

Run the SQL Server Docker container

Now that we have Docker Desktop installed and the latest SQL Server image downloaded, it’s time to run the SQL Server Docker container. Use the following command in your command window.

docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "SA_PASSWORD=34r0TNhvgOde" -p 1433:1433 --name sql2019 -h sql2019 -d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-latest

The ACCEPT_EULA parameter signifies that you agree to Microsoft’s End User Licensing Agreement.

SA_PASSWORD is where you set the sa password for this instance. Replace 34r0TNhvgOde in the example with a complex password of your choosing.

The -p parameter allows you to map a TCP port on the host environment to a port in the container. In this example, I’m mapping the default host environment port of 1433 to the container port of 1433.

Set the name for your container using the –name parameter. I’m naming this one sql2019.

Likewise define your container’s hostname using the -h parameter.

And finally, the -d parameter is the name of the container image your want to run.

Connecting to and querying the SQL Server Docker container

You can connect to your new SQL Server in the Docker container as you would any other SQL Server instance. The image below show how I can connect my new sql2019 container instance using Azure Data Studio on my Windows desktop.

Once connected, you can query the instance. For example, I can run the following query to gather information about the SQL instance.

SELECT  SERVERPROPERTY('MachineName') AS MachineName,
        SERVERPROPERTY('ServerName') AS InstanceName,
        SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS SQLEdition,
        SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion,
        SERVERPROPERTY('ProductLevel') AS ProductLevel;
SELECT  host_platform, 
        host_distribution, 
        host_release
FROM    sys.dm_os_host_info;

In the results, you can see this Ubuntu Linux container is running SQL Server 2019 Developer Edition.

Restoring a backup to your SQL Server Docker container

Now that you have a working SQL Server instance, let’s restore a copy of our BaseballData database to it.

Copy the backup file to the Docker container

Create a backup folder in the container using the following Docker command.

docker exec -it sql2019 mkdir /var/opt/mssql/backup

The exec parameter is used to execute commands inside the specified container. The -it parameter indicates that it will be an interactive terminal command.

Next, copy the SQL Server backup file to the newly created backup folder in the container using the Docker cp command. In this example, I’m copying the BaseballData.bak file from the present working directory on the host computer to the /var/opt/mssql/backup folder in the sql2019 container.

docker cp BaseballData.bak sql2019:/var/opt/mssql/backup

To ensure the file landed where intended, I can run the following command. The ls command is the Linux equivalent of the Window’s dir command.

docker exec -it sql2019 ls /var/opt/mssql/backup

Restore the SQL Server backup

Now we can restore the database backup as we typically would. Since I’m restoring a backup from another machine with different operating system, I need to move the data and log files when I restore the backup.

Run the following command in Azure Data Studio (or SQL Server Management Studio) to get a list of the database files for this database.

RESTORE FILELISTONLY FROM DISK = '/var/opt/mssql/backup/BaseballData.bak';

Now, I can restore the database using the following TSQL command. Notice I’m moving the physical files to a new location in the container.

RESTORE DATABASE BaseballData 
    FROM DISK='/var/opt/mssql/backup/BaseballData.bak' 
    WITH MOVE 'Baseball' TO '/var/opt/mssql/data/Baseball.mdf', 
    MOVE 'Baseball_log' TO '/var/opt/mssql/data/Baseball_log.ldf';

You can see the new database in Azure Data Studio. You can use it just as you would any other SQL Server database.

Stopping and starting a SQL Server Docker container

If you’re using the SQL Server Docker container in a development or test environment, you may want to stop it when you’re not using it. Here’s how you can easily do that using a Windows command prompt. Replace sql2019 with the name of your instance.

docker stop sql2019

To start the Docker container again, just run the following command.

docker start sql2019

Some more information

Looking for some additional SQL Server information? The following posts may be helpful.

• Docker: Install containers for SQL Server on Linux – SQL Server | Microsoft Docs
• Use a database server running as a container | Microsoft Docs
• What SQL Server Version Am I Running?
• Do I Really Need SQL Server Enterprise Edition?
• Script: How Long Until My SQL Server Backup/Restore Completes?
• Want to Learn SQL Server? Here Are 3 Free Sources

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The post Getting Started with SQL Server in a Docker Container appeared first on The SERO Group.