Installing Microsoft SQL Server with Docker Compose

Prerequisites

• Docker installed on your system
• Docker Compose installed
• At least 2GB of RAM available

Step 1: Create Project Directory

mkdir mssql-docker
cd mssql-docker

Step 2: Create docker-compose.yml

Create a docker-compose.yml file with the following content:

version: '3.8'

services:
  mssql:
    image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
    container_name: mssql-server
    environment:
      - ACCEPT_EULA=Y
      - SA_PASSWORD=YourStrong@Password123
      - MSSQL_PID=Developer
    ports:
      - "1433:1433"
    volumes:
      - mssql-data:/var/opt/mssql
    restart: unless-stopped

volumes:
  mssql-data:

Step 3: Configure Environment Variables

Important: Change the SA_PASSWORD to a strong password. The password must:

• Be at least 8 characters long
• Contain uppercase and lowercase letters
• Contain numbers
• Contain special characters

Step 4: Start the Container

docker-compose up -d

Step 5: Verify Installation

Check if the container is running:

docker-compose ps

View logs:

docker-compose logs -f mssql

Step 6: Connect to SQL Server

You can connect using any SQL Server client with these credentials:

• Host: localhost
• Port: 1433
• Username: sa
• Password: (your password from docker-compose.yml)

Useful Commands

Stop the container:

docker-compose down

Stop and remove data:

docker-compose down -v

Restart the container:

docker-compose restart