This is the default TCP port that SQL Server uses to listen for connections. p 1433:1433 This maps the local port 1433 to port 1433 on the container. e 'SA_PASSWORD=myPassw0rd' Required parameter that sets the sa database password. This is required in order to install SQL Server. e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' The Y shows that you agree with the EULA (End User Licence Agreement). This can be handy when stopping and starting the container from the Terminal. name Homer This optional parameter provides a name for the container. You can omit this parameter to have the container run in its own Terminal window. This means that it runs in the background and doesn't need its own Terminal window open. Here's an explanation of the above parameters: -d This is an optional parameter that launches the Docker container in daemon mode. Also be sure to make a strong password, or you may get an error (see below).Īlso, if you downloaded a different container image, replace microsoft/mssql-server-linux with your container image. Replace the container name and password with your own. The Mac uses the Linux image (the SQL Server for Linux Docker image).ĭocker run -d -name Homer -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=myPassw0rd' -p 1433:1433 microsoft/mssql-server-linux Now that we've installed Docker and increased its memory allocation, we can go ahead and install SQL Server. OK, we're now ready to install SQL Server on your Mac. I've written a tutorial with screenshots: Install Docker on a Mac and Configure for SQL Server.

Launch Docker, and go to Preferences > Advanced and increase its memory allocation to 4GB.

Download Docker from the download page, extract it, and drag it into your Application folder.

Once installed, we'll increase its memory allocation to a more suitable level for running SQL Server.

Because the Mac runs SQL Server inside a Docker container, the first thing we need to do is download and install Docker (unless it's already installed). This is a prerequisite for installing SQL Server on your Mac. 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). This is made possible by running SQL Server from a Docker container. Microsoft has made SQL Server available for macOS and Linux systems.

Install SQL Server directly to your Mac - no virtual machine required!

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