In this chapter, we got an overview of how SQL Server can be hosted in a container environment (natively on Windows), allowing us to easily deploy new instances of SQL Server with effectively a single line of code. This lightweight virtualization technology fits well into a development scenario and encourages us to experiment with new versions of SQL Server without the traditional overhead of enterprise IT workflows for deploying new servers.
We also saw how simple it is to install SQL Server on Linux, which is, in fact, even simpler than installing SQL Server on Windows. A single repository command can download the desired release of SQL Server and deploy it into a Linux installation. Depending on the internet connection, we can potentially spin up an instance of SQL Server in minutes rather than multiples of that time when working with Windows (including server restarts to register services).
At this point, we are able to see that the tight relationship between SQL Server and the operating system hosting it has been loosened. The flexibility afforded by this change has begun to allow changes in how developers are able to interact with SQL Server. The ability to rapidly deploy a new instance of SQL Server at a moment's notice on a new version of SQL Server allows for more experimentation and a move towards a more agile development strategy.
Equally, being able to run SQL Server on a Windows machine or a Linux machine (or inside a container) means that there is no longer a requirement to deploy a certain operating system. Companies that were previously married to a certain operating system that didn't support SQL Server (Linux) are now able to evaluate whether the fantastically wide feature set of SQL Server is a potential candidate to replace their current RDBMS system. Some of the competing offerings are priced well above the SQL Server licensing and could potentially be good candidates for a move towards the Microsoft product. The operating system question is widely unimportant at this stage, meaning companies can leverage their in-house skills to administer a server hosting environment.
A fluid transition between hosting operating systems and hosting environments (whether on-premise, private cloud, or public cloud) means that an application is also no longer tied to a specific supplier or a third party; rather, it permits a company to utilize the best supplier for a particular use case at any time. The message from Microsoft is now clear: choose the right platform to host the best-in-class RDBMS.
The main takeaway from this chapter should be: For developers, the host for SQL Server should be irrelevant - we don't want or have to care where our database is hosted, we just need to have a unified access to the data. SQL Server hosted inside a container or on a Linux operating system is (almost) identical to what we already know and love about a SQL Server from a year ago. This is exactly how it should be and we can expect this story to develop in the future until full parity of features is implemented.