How to learn SQL in OS X. Once you've got SQLite set up in Mac OS X, it's time to start learning how to use it. Forutnately there are no shortage of courses and books out there that will help you. Microsoft has made SQL Server available for macOS and Linux systems. This is made possible by running SQL Server from a Docker container. Therefore, there's no need to install a virtual machine with Windows (which was the only way to run SQL Server on a Mac prior to SQL Server 2017). Install and Configure Docker.
I previously explained how to install SQL Server on a Mac via a Docker container. When I wrote that, SQL Server 2017 was the latest version of SQL Server, and it had just been made available for Linux and Docker (which means that you can also install it on MacOS systems).
In late 2018, Microsoft announced SQL Server 2019 Preview, and subsequently announced general release in late 2019. The installation process for SQL Server 2019 is exactly the same as for SQL Server 2017. The only difference is that you need to use the container image for SQL Server 2019 instead of the 2017 image. Here I show you how to do that.
Also, if you already have SQL Server 2017 installed, and you want to install SQL Server 2019 without removing the 2017 version, you’ll need to allocate a different port number on your host. I show you how to do that too.
Docker
The first step is to install Docker. If you already have Docker installed you can skip this step (and jump straight to SQL Server).
Docker is a platform that enables software to run in its own isolated environment. Therefore, SQL Server 2019 can be run on Docker in its own isolated container.
Install Docker
To download, visit the Docker CE for Mac download page and click Get Docker.
To install, double-click on the .dmg file and then drag the Docker.app icon to your Application folder.
Launch Docker
Launch Docker the same way you’d launch any other application (eg, via the Applications folder, the Launchpad, etc).
When you open Docker, you might be prompted for your password so that Docker can install its networking components and links to the Docker apps. Go ahead and provide your password, as Docker needs this to run.
Increase the Memory
By default, Docker will have 2GB of memory allocated to it. I’d suggest increasing it to 4GB if you can.
To do this:
- Select Preferences from the little Docker icon in the top menu
- Slide the memory slider up to at least 4GB
- Click Apply & Restart
SQL Server
Now that Docker has been installed and configured, we can download and install SQL Server 2019.
Download SQL Server 2019
Open a Terminal window and run the following command.
This downloads the latest SQL Server for Linux Docker image to your computer.
You can also check for the various container image options on the Docker website if you wish.
Note that, at the time I wrote this article, I used the following image:
Therefore, all examples below reflect that version.
Launch the Docker Image
Run the following command to launch an instance of the Docker image you just downloaded:
Just change
Bart
to a name of your choosing, andreallyStrongPwd#123
to a password of your choosing.If you get a “port already allocated” error, see below.
Here’s an explanation of the parameters:
-e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y'
- The
Y
shows that you agree with the EULA (End User Licence Agreement). This is required. -e 'SA_PASSWORD=reallyStrongPwd#123'
- Required parameter that sets the
sa
database password. -p 1433:1433
- This maps the local port 1433 to port 1433 on the container. The first value is the TCP port on the host environment. The second value is the TCP port in the container.
--name Bart
- Another optional parameter. This parameter allows you to name the container. This can be handy when stopping and starting your container from the Terminal. You might prefer to give it a more descriptive name like
sql_server_2019
or similar. -d
- This optional parameter launches the Docker container in daemon mode. This means that it runs in the background and doesn’t need its own Terminal window open. You can omit this parameter to have the container run in its own Terminal window.
mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-CTP3.2-ubuntu
- This tells Docker which image to use.
Password Strength
You need to use a strong password. Microsoft says this about the password:
The password should follow the SQL Server default password policy, otherwise the container can not setup SQL server and will stop working. By default, the password must be at least 8 characters long and contain characters from three of the following four sets: Uppercase letters, Lowercase letters, Base 10 digits, and Symbols.
Error – “Port already allocated”?
If you get an error that says something about “port is already allocated”, then perhaps you already have SQL Server installed on another container that uses that port. In this case, you’ll need to map to a different port on the host.
Therefore, you could change the above command to something like this:
In this case I simply changed
-p 1433:1433
to-p 1400:1433
. Everything else remains the same.You may now get an error saying that you need to remove the existing container first. To do that, run the following (but swap
Bart
with the name of your own container):Once removed, you can try running the previous command again.
Note that if you change the port like I’ve done here, you will probably need to include the port number when connecting to SQL Server from any database tools from your desktop. For example, when connecting via the Azure Data Studio (mentioned below), you can connect by using
Localhost,1400
instead of justLocalhost
. Same with mssql-cli, which is a command line SQL tool.
Check Everything
Now that we’ve done that, we should be good to go. Let’s go through and run a few checks.
Check the Docker container (optional)
You can type the following command to check that the Docker container is running.
In my case I get this:
This tells me that I have two docker containers up and running: one called Bart and the other called Homer.
Connect to SQL Server
Here we use the SQL Server command line tool called “sqlcmd” inside the container to connect to SQL Server.
Enter your password if prompted.
Now that you’re inside the container, connect locally with sqlcmd:
This should bring you to the sqlcmd prompt 1>.
Run a Quick Test
Run a quick test to check that SQL Server is up and running. For example, check the SQL Server version by entering this:
This will bring you to a command prompt 2> on the next line. To execute the query, enter:
Result:
If you see a message like this, congratulations — SQL Server is now up and running on your Mac!
If you prefer to use a GUI to manage SQL Server, read on.
Azure Data Studio
Azure Data Studio is a free GUI management tool that you can use to manage SQL Server on your Mac. You can use it to create and manage databases, write queries, backup and restore databases, and more.
Azure Data Studio is available on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Here are some articles/tutorials I’ve written for Azure Data Studio:
Another Free SQL Server GUI – DBeaver
Another SQL Server GUI tool that you can use on your Mac (and Windows/Linux/Solaris) is DBeaver.
DBeaver is a free, open source database management tool that can be used on most database management systems (such as MySQL, PostgreSQL, MariaDB, SQLite, Oracle, DB2, SQL Server, Sybase, Microsoft Access, Teradata, Firebird, Derby, and more).
I wrote a little introduction to DBeaver, or you can go straight to the DBeaver download page and try it out with your new SQL Server installation.
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
Microsoft Sql Server For Mac
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.
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.
Microsoft Sql Server For Mac Os High Sierra
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.
Microsoft Sql Server For Mac Os Versions
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!
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
Sql Server For Mac
Dig in deeper with my course SQL Server 2017: Linux, Docker, and MacOS
Microsoft Sql Server Mac Os X
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.
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