It was a paradigm shift in December 2016, when Microsoft made their SQL Server database available for Linux; it was the first time in history that Microsoft ever designed SQL Server to run on a non-Windows operating system. SQL Server vNext was released for public preview so the user community could test and deploy SQL Server on a Linux operating system. Microsoft took a major step in diversifying the database technology into the non-windows platform for the first time.

Introduction

The close integration of various data sources under one umbrella called Hadoop – Big Data enabled DBAs to handle data and its data structures on the available platforms. It’s a great opportunity for the SQL community members to try MS SQL on the non-windows platform.

SQL Server on Linux can potentially provide customers with even more flexibility in their data solution. SQL Server’s proven enterprise experience and capabilities is a valuable asset to Enterprise Linux customers around the world. It’s expanding the database market to meet the needs and be on par with the changing trends in technology.

This article is an effort to detail the instructions for the installation of SQL Server vNext on Linux. The article also includes several basic Linux commands, thereby being helpful in understanding the process of installation and configuration.

This article is a comprehensive guide for the installation and configuration of MSSQL; it includes:

• Introduction and understanding of how SQL Server run on Linux
• Challenges and complications in building and managing SQL Server on Linux
• Curating the MSSQL Server installation using Linux commands
• Detailed installation procedure

Pre-requisites

• Basic understanding of Linux
• Access to CentOS/RHEL Software Libraries
• At least 4 GB RAM
• At least 8 GB of hard disk space

How Does SQL Server Run on Linux?

Microsoft has provided great insight on how they were able to port SQL Server to run natively on Linux introducing what is known as Platform Abstraction Layer (“PAL”). The Microsoft Research Team set out to bring full functionality, performance, and scale value of the SQL Server RDBMS to Linux. The Microsoft Research Drawbridge acts as an abstraction layer between the OS and the application layers. Drawbridge explored a new approach to process virtualization and isolation. It’s a form of virtualization, specifically for application sandboxing. In fact, it’s very hard to provide a capable SQL version outside of windows within the stipulated time, hence MSR (Microsoft Research) team decides to integrate SQL Server’s existing platform layer SOS (SQL Server Operating System) with Drawbridge to create what we call as the SQLPAL. The SOS provides robust memory management, thread scheduling, and IO services. Creating SQLPAL enabled the full functional SQL version to run on Linux. Please read the reference section for more information.

Further reading….

https://www.sqlshack.com/installation-of-sql-server-vnext-ctp-on-linux-distribution-centos-7/