In June 2016, we announced the availability of .NET Core, the open source project based on Microsoft’s widely-adopted general development platform, on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform. The groundwork for that announcement was laid by Red Hat’s November 2015 landmark collaboration with Microsoft and today, we’re pleased to take another step on our journey with Microsoft to deliver powerful open solutions to the enterprise.

The next version of SQL Server on Linux, Microsoft’s data management and business analytics platform, is now available as a public preview on Red Hat Enterprise Linux. SQL Server on Linux Public Preview provides users with a choice of development languages, data types and deployment methods, and now features support for docker-formatted Linux containers.

While unsupported for production use, SQL Server on Linux Public Preview is available to Red Hat Enterprise Linux users via:

  • On-Premise - Customers with Red Hat Enterprise Linux deployed in their datacenter can install SQL Server Public Preview on their systems for evaluation. Evaluation subscriptions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux will be available to customers seeking to test Microsoft SQL Server on Linux Public Preview on their own systems.

  • SQL Hands-on Lab hosted on Microsoft Azure - Two hands-on labs managed by Microsoft running on Azure offer customers remote access to a SQL Server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux environment without images or virtual machines, guiding customers through what a deployment would potentially look like. These labs are:

  • SQL Server and Red Hat Enterprise Linux images on Microsoft Azure - Coming soon, customers will be able to access Red Hat Enterprise Linux images on Azure that include the SQL Server Public Preview software. While not supported, these images will allow users to get a hands-on look at how SQL Server looks and feels on the world’s leading enterprise Linux platform.

You can read more about Red Hat’s collaboration with Microsoft at https://www.redhat.com/en/microsoft.