Announcing general availability of SQL Server 2025 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10

The general availability (GA) of SQL Server 2025 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 (RHEL) empowers enterprises to confidently deploy Microsoft SQL Server 2025 on Red Hat's latest enterprise Linux platform, combining Microsoft's modern, AI-ready database with the security, stability, and performance that RHEL is known for. Try it today on the Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog.

With SQL Server 2025 support on RHEL 10, organizations can run mission-critical SQL Server workloads on a platform built for hybrid cloud, edge, and AI-driven environments. This release reinforces our joint commitment to delivering a secure, high-performance, and enterprise-grade database experience on Linux, optimized for today's most demanding workloads.

Why SQL Server 2025 on RHEL 10?

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 is a powerful, high-performance platform designed with security, resilience, and enterprise scalability at its core. When paired with SQL Server 2025, customers benefit from:

• Post-quantum cryptography readiness and integrated hardware security support
• Operational simplicity with built-in AI-assisted management through Red Hat Lightspeed, reducing administrative overhead
• Hybrid cloud readiness optimized for on-premises, cloud, and edge deployments
• Enterprise reliability and compliance, trusted by organizations worldwide

This makes RHEL 10 an ideal foundation for both development and production SQL Server workloads.

Production-ready support on RHEL 10

To install the production-ready GA version of SQL Server 2025 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, it's important to update your repository configuration by switching from mssql-server-preview.repo to mssql-server-2025.repo. Continuing to use the preview repository may result in installing pre-release builds that are not intended for production workloads. See RHEL: Install SQL Server on Linux for installation instructions.

Enhancements for Linux-based SQL Server deployments

SQL Server 2025 is now fully certified and supported on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, enabling you to confidently deploy production workloads on the latest generation of RHEL. This brings compatibility with the latest kernel, libraries, and security enhancements that RHEL 10 brings to the enterprise.

Enable database creation and restore in Contained Availability Group sessions

SQL Server 2025 introduces improved flexibility for Contained Availability Groups (CAG). You can now enable database creation and restoration directly within a CAG session through the listener by setting a session context key. Read What Is a Contained Availability Group and sp_set_session_context (Transact-SQL) for more information.

Enhanced observability for SQL Server on RHEL

SQL Server 2025 on Linux introduces new Dynamic Management Views (DMV) that provide deep, system-level observability by exposing metrics directly from the underlying operating system. On RHEL 10, this gives administrators unprecedented visibility into how SQL Server interacts with the host operating system and other workloads.

These DMVs help distinguish between performance issues caused by SQL Server itself and those originating from OS-level or infrastructure constraints, which are an essential capability for modern, consolidated Linux environments.

New Linux DMVs

• Sys.dm_os_linux_cpu_stats: Helps identify CPU saturation, analyze waits, assess system responsiveness, and correlate SQL Server performance with overall OS CPU activity.
• Sys.dm_os_linux_disk_stats: Enables detection of log flush latency, checkpoint pressure, read-heavy workloads, and external I/O contention from other processes on shared RHEL hosts.
• Sys.dm_os_linux_net_stats: Provides real-time visibility into network interface behavior, supporting proactive monitoring and faster troubleshooting of connectivity and throughput issues.

Together, these DMVs empower database professionals running SQL Server on RHEL 10 with actionable OS-level insights, improving stability, performance tuning, and operational confidence for mission-critical deployments.

Next steps and further reading

With SQL Server 2025 now fully certified and generally available on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10, you gain greater flexibility to support modern workloads and AI-driven innovation while maintaining mission-critical performance. Learn more using these resources:

• What's New for SQL Server 2025 on Linux
• SQL Server Red Hat Container
• What Is a Contained Availability Group?
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
• Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux at no cost

Explore what's new in SQL Server 2025, follow the quickstart guide, check it out on Red Hat Ecosystem Catalog, and deploy SQL Server 2025 on RHEL 10 in your environment. We look forward to seeing what you build with SQL Server 2025 on RHEL 10.