Running Microsoft SQL database server with Docker

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Recently I have started upgrading self with some docker skills. So, here is how, you can run and use a Microsoft SQL server on your computer.

The first step is to go ahead and create a folder. I tend to create a separate folder for every new container I wish to run. it seems to work better for me.

Then, create a file called, docker-compose.yml. The file name is important for the command to work as per my steps.

version: '3.8'

services:
  sqlserver:
    image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
    container_name: sqlserver
    environment:
      ACCEPT_EULA: "Y"
      MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD: "YourStrong!Passw0rd"
    ports:
      - "1433:1433"
    volumes:
      - sqlserverdata:/var/opt/mssql

volumes:
  sqlserverdata:

What is happening here? we are setting up a service with the name, ‘sqlserver’. the image ‘mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest’ will be pulled from the Docker container registry.

Now, time for some additional commands and settings. we need to supply the password. then, of course, the default ports. finally, I want the microsoft sql data to be preserved between different container runs.

Now, I simply need to run the following command in the terminal, and it will get the container pulled and up and running on the local machine.

docker-compose up -d

it’s running.

Now, we can use SQL Management Studio to connect to this database.

and, it’s working just fine.

screenshot from PC

the full code is here on my github.

That’s all there is to it.

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