This post was authored by Tiffany Wissner, Senior Director of Data Platform Marketing

Today, we are excited to announce the public preview of the next release of SQL Server on Linux and Windows, which brings the power of SQL Server to both Windows – and for the first time ever – Linux. SQL Server enables developers and organizations to build intelligent applications with industry-leading performance and security technologies using their preferred language and environment. With the next release of SQL Server, you can develop applications with SQL Server on Linux, Windows, Docker, or macOS (via Docker) and then deploy to Linux, Windows, or Docker, on-premises or in the cloud.

We have seen strong reception for the private preview to date with more than 50% of Fortune 500 companies applying for the private preview.

Easy, Fast, and Efficient

We have made it easier than ever to get started with SQL Server. You’ll find native Linux installations with familiar RPM and APT packages for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and Ubuntu Linux, and packages for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server will be coming soon as well. The Windows download is available on the Technet Eval Center. Finally, the public preview on Windows and Linux is also available on Azure Virtual Machines (coming soon) and as images available on Docker Hub, offering a quick and easy installation within minutes.

SQL Server offers tremendous performance. In-Memory OLTP delivers up to 30x faster transaction processing and Columnstore indexes deliver up to 100x faster analytical processing. SQL Server also owns multiple top TPC-E performance benchmarks1 for transaction processing and top TPC-H performance benchmarks2 for data warehousing, as well as top performance benchmarks with leading business applications. We also recently showcased SQL Server running more than one million R predictions per second. With the next release of SQL Server, we are bringing these leading innovations to Linux.

On top of this performance, SQL Server also provides incredible efficiency, and removes the need to architect the scale of your application. For example, SQL Server has enabled 1.2 million requests per second with In-Memory OLTP on a single commodity server.

Tooling on Linux

Today, we have released updated versions of our flagship SQL Server tools including SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), Visual Studio SQL Server Data Tools (SSDT) and SQL Server PowerShell with support for the next release of SQL Server on Windows and Linux. We are also excited to announce the new SQL Server extension for Visual Studio Code that is available now on the Visual Studio Code marketplace. Developers can use the SQL Server extension for VS Code on macOS/Linux/Windows with SQL Server running anywhere (on-premises, on Linux and Windows, in any cloud, in virtual machines, Docker, SQL Server 2016 or the next release of SQL Server preview) and with Azure SQL Database and Azure SQL DW. Native command-line tools are also available for SQL Server on Linux.

The new SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) 7.1 release helps you quickly convert Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, and DB2 databases to SQL Server on both Linux and Windows. Download SSMA 7.1 today for Oracle, MySQL, Sybase, DB2, and Access.

Other improvements in the next version of SQL Server

The next release of SQL Server brings the power of SQL Server to Linux. In addition, this release includes in-memory, advanced analytics, columnstore, and SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) enhancements. For more information on what is new with this release, see What’s New in SQL Server.

Stay tuned for additional capabilities in future previews!

Get started today

Try the preview of the next release of SQL Server today! Get started with the preview of SQL Server on Linux, macOS (via Docker) and Windows with our developer tutorials that show you how to install and use SQL Server v.Next on macOS, Docker, Windows, RHEL and Ubuntu and quickly build an app in a programming language of your choice.

Learn more

Visit the Connect(); webpage to watch overview, security, high availability, and developer tools videos about SQL Server on Linux on-demand, watch the Microsoft Mechanics video to see how to get started in under one minute, and go to the next release of SQL Server webpage to get started with interactive SQL Server on Linux hands on labs for Linux administrators new to SQL Server and for existing SQL Server database administrators new to Linux, and read detailed documentation. Sign up to stay informed about new SQL Server on Linux developments.

Stay tuned for additional SQL Server Blog posts in the coming weeks, including SQL Server high availability, security, connectors, and developer tools on Linux!

1 http://www.tpc.org/tpce/results/tpce_perf_results.asp?resulttype=NONCLUSTER&version=1%¤cyID=0

2 http://www.tpc.org/tpch/results/tpch_perf_results.asp?resulttype=noncluster