SQL Server has really come to Linux in a big way. That is, if you consider SQL Server to be the database engine without the external bells and whistles. In my opinion, this is a remarkable achievement. The SQL Server Engine has a lot of interaction with the operating system. Making something this powerful work well in another environment is remarkable, while retaining so many key components.
Because you will probably have to purchase a license when SQL Server on Linux leaves the Community Technical Preview stage, I’m curios what sorts of deployments will take advantage of this powerful new player in the Linux world? What are the key reasons driving a business to consider this new product in the Linux OS?
I can see companies considering the SQL Server engine because they already have committed to Linux. Now they have a high end data engine other than Oracle or DB2. I’m not sure if the SQL Express edition will be ported as a release in Linux. If so, could it potentially compete with MySql, or Posgres?
Following some blogs from those who are reviewing the new technology, it seems rather straight forward to Install SQL Server, especially if you are already familiar with Linux. One key thing to note is that the Linux distribution only supports command line tools when interacting with the SQL Service. If you need to use SQL Server Management Studio, you’ll need to run that on a Windows operating system, and connect to your database remotely.
One thing that stood out as I have been reading is that it does not seem to support authentication from Active Directory, at least out of the box. I’m curios if anyone who has integrated security in Windows with Linux may have a solution? The thing that prompts me to ask the question is the installation instructions for setting an SA password. I generally disable SA in my windows installations. I’m not quite sure how or if you can do that in Linux yet.
Would you consider using SQL on Linux? What would cause you to consider this tool? You can get into the conversation by leaving a comment below.
Cheers,
Ben