For the first time, SQL Server 2017 allows users to install the product on Linux. This opens the doors for working with fully-featured SQL Server database engines on MacOS through freely distributable Docker containers. With the addition of a new graphical user interface that's in public preview, Mac users can now leverage the same industry-leading database platform that has previously only been available to Windows users, all on their local computer. Let me show you how to get started in three easy steps.

1. Install Docker

Download SQLPro Studio for macOS 10.12 or later and enjoy it on your Mac. ‎SQLPro Studio is the premium database management tool for Postgres, MySQL, Microsoft Management Studio and Oracle databases. Some of the great features include: + Intellisense/SQL autocompletion. + Syntax highlighting with customizable themes (including dark).

Microsoft Sql Server Express Download Free

The first step is to install Docker. Start at https://store.docker.com/editions/community/docker-ce-desktop-mac, and click the Get Docker button on the top right. That will download a disc image containing the application. Drag Docker.app into your Applications folder and give it a double-click to launch. Look for the Docker icon in the top menu bar. When the animation stops, Docker is ready to go. Step one: done.

2. Pull the SQL Server 2017 container

Next, start up Terminal.app. This is where you'll issue commands to Docker. Microsoft provides pre-configured images that include the Developer edition of SQL Server 2017 running on Ubuntu Linux. You can pull the most recent version with the following command.

After supplying your MacOS Administrator password, the image is downloaded.

Docker images need to be unpacked into containers, and a single image can be used to create as many identical containers as you'd like; just be sure to give them unique names. The following command will create a single container called 'sqlserver1' from the image you just downloaded. A couple of points:

  • Note that you'll want to provide your own strong password for the SQL Server System Administrator account. Just replace 'YourStrong!Passw0rd' with something better.

  • Port 1401 on the local computer will be forwarded to SQL Server's default listening port of 1433 inside the container. This will be important to remember later.

  • Make sure that you forward a different port to 1433 if you decide to create additional containers.

To verify that everything is working as intended, you can check the status of Docker's containers.

Sql server on mac

You should see a line for the container and, hopefully, a status of 'up.' If you see 'exited' here, go back and double check the previous commands were typed correctly. You can also try 'docker stop sqlserver1' followed by 'docker start sqlserver1' to reset the server. With the container now running, you're done with step two.

3. Install SQL Operations Studio

Microsoft is in the beginning stages of developing a cross-platform graphical user interface for SQL Server called SQL Operations Studio. Though it's still in an early public preview, SQL Ops Studio is already showing promise as a robust, lightweight interface that brings the best of SQL Server Management Studio (a venerable workhorse, but sadly Windows-only) over to the Mac and Linux platforms. The Ops Studio GitHub page will be your source of information as the project progresses. Head over to the GitHub repository, scroll down to the first section of the readme and download the MacOS zip containing the latest stable preview.

Upon Operations Studio's first launch, the Connection window will automatically prompt you for login credentials. Use 'localhost' as the name of the server, 'SA' as the user name, and fill in the password that you established when the Docker container was created. Then press the Advanced button, and scroll through the properties list until you get to the General section. Fill in the port number of 1401 here, or whichever port you're passing to SQL Server's 1433 listening port. Press OK, then Connect.

That should connect, and pass you back to the main interface. If you've ever seen Visual Studio Code, then you'll instantly recognize the interface's clean and well-organized layout. On the left is a listing of servers you're connected to. Expand the server folder to explore databases, security items and so on.

You're now up and running with the SQL Server database engine running in a Docker container, and you can manage it with Operations Studio on your Mac!

Bonus step 4. Start working with your new SQL Database Engine

What good is a server without a database? Right-click the Databases folder, and choose New Query. In the SQLQuery1 tab, type in the following command.

Press the Run button to create your first database, which you should see pop up under the Databases folder. You might need to right-click the databases folder and choose Refresh if it doesn't show up immediately.

Operations Studio has a great feature called Snippets that help you quickly write common T-SQL commands. Clear out the CREATE DATABASE statement and change the Connection drop-down at the top to MyDatabase. Type 'sql' to see the list of included snippets presented in the IntelliSense popup box.

Arrow down to sqlCreateTable and press Return. Operations Studio fills in all of the T-SQL to help you create a table in the database.

Notice that all of the TableName placeholders are selected, ready for you to overwrite them with your own name. Type it once, and each one gets updated simultaneously. Press the tab key to move over to SchemaName and change that to 'dbo' (since we haven't created any other schemas at this point). Then all that's left is to modify the Column1 and Column2 placeholders on lines 10 and 11, choose appropriate data types, and add additional columns as needed.

Press the Run button when done to create your first table, in your first database, on your SQL Server instance, running on Ubuntu Linux, inside of a Docker container, on your Mac.

You're done!

Black ops download free mac os x. Welcome from SQL Server 2017: Linux, Docker, and macOS by Adam Wilbert

','resolvedBy':'manual','resolved':true}'>

Welcome from SQL Server 2017: Linux, Docker, and macOS by Adam Wilbert

Dig in deeper with my course SQL Server 2017: Linux, Docker, and MacOS

I go into way more detail on the process of working with SQL Server on these newly available platforms in my newest course here on LinkedIn Learning. In it, I demonstrate the process of setting up SQL Server on Linux, use the sqlcmd command line tool, dive deeper into Docker, and connect instances to and from other machines on the network. Or, for more information on how to use SQL Server now that you're up and running, check out Learn SQL Server 2017.

Adam Wilbert is a LinkedIn Learning / Lynda.com author of over forty courses on SQL Server, Microsoft Access, database design and development, and mapping with ArcGIS. Come say 'hi' on Twitter: @awilbert.

-->

Applies to:SQL Server (all supported versions)

Microsoft SQL Server Express LocalDB is a feature of SQL Server Express targeted to developers. It is available on SQL Server Express with Advanced Services.

LocalDB installation copies a minimal set of files necessary to start the SQL Server Database Engine. Once LocalDB is installed, you can initiate a connection using a special connection string. When connecting, the necessary SQL Server infrastructure is automatically created and started, enabling the application to use the database without complex configuration tasks. Developer Tools can provide developers with a SQL Server Database Engine that lets them write and test Transact-SQL code without having to manage a full server instance of SQL Server.

Installation media

LocalDB is a feature you select during SQL Server Express installation, and is available when you download the media. If you download the media, either choose Express Advanced or the LocalDB package.

Alternatively, you can install LocalDB through the Visual Studio Installer, as part of the Data Storage and Processing workload, the ASP.NET and web development workload, or as an individual component.

Install LocalDB

Mac Os Sql Server

Install LocalDB through the installation wizard or by using the SqlLocalDB.msi program. LocalDB is an option when installing SQL Server Express LocalDB.

Select LocalDB on the Feature Selection/Shared Features page during installation. There can be only one installation of the LocalDB binary files for each major SQL Server Database Engine version. Multiple Database Engine processes can be started and will all use the same binaries. An instance of the SQL Server Database Engine started as the LocalDB has the same limitations as SQL Server Express.

An instance of SQL Server Express LocalDB is managed by using the SqlLocalDB.exe utility. SQL Server Express LocalDB should be used in place of the SQL Server Express user instance feature, which was deprecated.

Description

The LocalDB setup program uses the SqlLocalDB.msi program to install the necessary files on the computer. Once installed, LocalDB is an instance of SQL Server Express that can create and open SQL Server databases. The system database files for the database are stored in the local AppData path, which is normally hidden. For example, C:Users<user>AppDataLocalMicrosoftMicrosoft SQL Server Local DBInstancesLocalDBApp1. User database files are stored where the user designates, typically somewhere in the C:Users<user>Documents folder.

For more information about including LocalDB in an application, see Visual Studio Local Data Overview, Create a database and add tables in Visual Studio.

For more information about the LocalDB API, see SQL Server Express LocalDB Reference.

The SqlLocalDb utility can create new instances of LocalDB, start and stop an instance of LocalDB, and includes options to help you manage LocalDB.For more information about the SqlLocalDb utility, see SqlLocalDB Utility.

The instance collation for LocalDB is set to SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS and cannot be changed. Database-level, column-level, and expression-level collations are supported normally. Contained databases follow the metadata and tempdb collations rules defined by Contained Database Collations.

Restrictions

  • LocalDB cannot be a merge replication subscriber.

  • LocalDB does not support FILESTREAM.

  • LocalDB only allows local queues for Service Broker.

  • An instance of LocalDB owned by the built-in accounts such as NT AUTHORITYSYSTEM can have manageability issues due to windows file system redirection. Instead use a normal windows account as the owner.

Automatic and named instances

LocalDB supports two kinds of instances: Automatic instances and named instances.

  • Automatic instances of LocalDB are public. They are created and managed automatically for the user and can be used by any application. One automatic instance of LocalDB exists for every version of LocalDB installed on the user's computer. Automatic instances of LocalDB provide seamless instance management. There is no need to create the instance; it just works. This feature allows for easy application installation and migration to a different computer. If the target machine has the specified version of LocalDB installed, the automatic instance of LocalDB for that version is available on the target machine as well. Automatic instances of LocalDB have a special pattern for the instance name that belongs to a reserved namespace. Automatic instances prevents name conflicts with named instances of LocalDB. The name for the automatic instance is MSSQLLocalDB.

  • Named instances of LocalDB are private. They are owned by a single application that is responsible for creating and managing the instance. Named instances provide isolation from other instances and can improve performance by reducing resource contention with other database users. Named instances must be created explicitly by the user through the LocalDB management API or implicitly via the app.config file for a managed application (although managed application may also use the API, if desired). Each named instance of LocalDB has an associated LocalDB version that points to the respective set of LocalDB binaries. The instance name of a LocalDB is sysname data type and can have up to 128 characters. (This differs from regular named instances of SQL Server, which limits names to regular NetBIOS names of 16 ASCII chars.) The name of an instance of LocalDB can contain any Unicode characters that are legal within a filename.A named instance that uses an automatic instance name becomes an automatic instance.

Different users of a computer can have instances with the same name. Each instance is a different processes running as a different user.

Shared instances of LocalDB

To support scenarios where multiple users of the computer need to connect to a single instance of LocalDB, LocalDB supports instance sharing. An instance owner can choose to allow the other users on the computer to connect the instance. Both automatic and named instances of LocalDB can be shared. To share an instance of LocalDB, a user selects a shared name (alias) for it. Because the shared name is visible to all users of the computer, this shared name must be unique on the computer. The shared name for an instance of LocalDB has the same format as the named instance of LocalDB.

Only an administrator on the computer can create a shared instance of LocalDB. A shared instance of LocalDB can be unshared by an administrator or by the owner of the shared instance of LocalDB. To share and unshared an instance of LocalDB, use the LocalDBShareInstance and LocalDBUnShareInstance methods of the LocalDB API, or the share and unshared options of the SqlLocalDb utility.

Start LocalDB and connect to LocalDB

Connect to the automatic instance

The easiest way to use LocalDB is to connect to the automatic instance owned by the current user by using the connection string Server=(localdb)MSSQLLocalDB;Integrated Security=true. To connect to a specific database by using the file name, connect using a connection string similar to Server=(LocalDB)MSSQLLocalDB;Integrated Security=true;AttachDbFileName=D:DataMyDB1.mdf.

The naming convention and connection string for LocalDB format changed in SQL Server 2014. Previously, the instance name was a single v character followed by LocalDB and the version number. Starting with SQL Server 2014, this instance name format is no longer supported, and the connection string mentioned previously should be used instead.

Note

  • The first time a user on a computer tries to connect to LocalDB, the automatic instance must be both created and started. The extra time for the instance to be created can cause the connection attempt to fail with a timeout message. When this happens, wait a few seconds to let the creation process complete, and then connect again.

Create and connect to a named instance

In addition to the automatic instance, LocalDB also supports named instances. Use the SqlLocalDB.exe program to create, start, and stop a named instance of LocalDB. For more information about SqlLocalDB.exe, see SqlLocalDB Utility.

The last line above, returns information similar to the following.

CategoryValue
NameLocalDBApp1
Version<Current Version>
Shared name'
Owner'<Your Windows User>'
Auto createNo
Staterunning
Last start time<Date and Time>
Instance pipe namenp:.pipeLOCALDB#F365A78Etsqlquery

Note

If your application uses a version of .NET before 4.0.2 you must connect directly to the named pipe of the LocalDB. The Instance pipe name value is the named pipe that the instance of LocalDB is listening on. The portion of the Instance pipe name after LOCALDB# will change each time the instance of LocalDB is started. To connect to the instance of LocalDB by using SQL Server Management Studio, type the instance pipe name in the Server name box of the Connect to Database Engine dialog box. From your custom program you can establish connection to the instance of LocalDB using a connection string similar to SqlConnection conn = new SqlConnection(@'Server=np:.pipeLOCALDB#F365A78Etsqlquery');

Connect to a shared instance of LocalDB

To connect to a shared instance of LocalDB add . (backslash + dot + backslash) to the connection string to reference the namespace reserved for shared instances. For example, to connect to a shared instance of LocalDB named AppData use a connection string such as (localdb).AppData as part of the connection string. A user connecting to a shared instance of LocalDB that they do not own must have a Windows Authentication or SQL Server Authentication login.

Troubleshooting

For information about troubleshooting LocalDB, see Troubleshooting SQL Server 2012 Express LocalDB.

Download Sql Server

Permissions

An instance of SQL Server Express LocalDB is an instance created by a user for their use. Any user on the computer can create a database using an instance of LocalDB, store files under their user profile, and run the process under their credentials. By default, access to the instance of LocalDB is limited to its owner. The data contained in the LocalDB is protected by file system access to the database files. If user database files are stored in a shared location, the database can be opened by anyone with file system access to that location by using an instance of LocalDB that they own. If the database files are in a protected location, such as the users data folder, only that user, and any administrators with access to that folder, can open the database. The LocalDB files can only be opened by one instance of LocalDB at a time.

Note

LocalDB always runs under the users security context; that is, LocalDB never runs with credentials from the local Administrator's group. This means that all database files used by a LocalDB instance must be accessible using the owning user's Windows account, without considering membership in the local Administrators group.

Sql Server Express Download For Mac

See Also