Manage SQL Server on Linux with PowerShell Core
Applies to: 
SQL Server - Linux
This article introduces SQL Server PowerShell and walks you through a couple of examples on how to use it with PowerShell Core (PS Core) on macOS & Linux. PowerShell Core is now an Open Source project on GitHub.
Cross-platform editor options
All of the following steps for PowerShell Core work in a regular terminal, or you can run them from a terminal within Visual Studio Code or Azure Data Studio. Both VS Code and Azure Data Studio are available on macOS and Linux. For more information on Azure Data Studio, see Quickstart: Use Azure Data Studio to connect and query SQL Server. You may also want to consider using the PowerShell Editor Support for Azure Data Studio.
Install PowerShell Core
For more information on installing PowerShell Core on various supported and experimental platforms, see the following articles:
- Installing PowerShell Core on Windows
- Installing PowerShell Core on Linux
- Installing PowerShell Core on macOS
- Installing PowerShell Core on ARM
Install the SqlServer module
The SqlServer module is maintained in the PowerShell Gallery. When working with SQL Server, you should always use the most recent version of the SqlServer PowerShell module.
To install the SqlServer module, open a PowerShell Core session and run the following code:
Install-Module -Name SqlServer
For more information on how to install the SqlServer module from the PowerShell Gallery, see Install the SQL Server PowerShell module.
Use the SqlServer module
Let's start by launching PowerShell Core. If you're on macOS or Linux, Open a terminal session on your computer, and type pwsh to launch a new PowerShell Core session. On Windows, use Win+R, and type pwsh to launch a new PowerShell Core session.
pwsh
SQL Server provides a PowerShell module named SqlServer. You can use the SqlServer module to import the SQL Server components (SQL Server provider and cmdlets) into a PowerShell environment or script.
Copy and paste the following command at the PowerShell prompt to import the SqlServer module into your current PowerShell session:
Import-Module SqlServer
Type the following command at the PowerShell prompt to verify that the SqlServer module was imported correctly:
Get-Module -Name SqlServer
PowerShell should display information similar to the following output:
ModuleType Version Name ExportedCommands
---------- ------- ---- ----------------
Script 21.1.18102 SqlServer {Add-SqlAvailabilityDatabase, Add-SqlAvailabilityGroupList...
Connect to SQL Server and get server information
The following steps use PowerShell Core to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux and display a couple of server properties.
Copy and paste the following commands at the PowerShell prompt. When you run these commands, PowerShell will:
- Display a dialog that prompts you for the hostname or IP address of your instance
- Display the PowerShell credential request dialog, which prompts you for the credentials. You can use your SQL username and SQL password to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux
- Use the Get-SqlInstance cmdlet to connect to the Server and display a few properties
Optionally, you can just replace the $serverInstance variable with the IP address or the hostname of your SQL Server instance.
# Prompt for instance & credentials to login into SQL Server
$serverInstance = Read-Host "Enter the name of your instance"
$credential = Get-Credential
# Connect to the Server and return a few properties
Get-SqlInstance -ServerInstance $serverInstance -Credential $credential
# done
PowerShell should display information similar to the following output:
Instance Name Version ProductLevel UpdateLevel HostPlatform HostDistribution
------------- ------- ------------ ----------- ------------ ----------------
your_server_instance 14.0.3048 RTM CU13 Linux Ubuntu
Note
If nothing is displayed for these values, the connection to the target SQL Server instance most likely failed. Make sure that you can use the same connection information to connect from SQL Server Management Studio. Then review the connection troubleshooting recommendations.
Use the SQL Server PowerShell Provider
Another option for connecting to your SQL Server instance is to use the SQL Server PowerShell Provider. Using the provider allows you to navigate SQL Server instance similar to as if you were navigating the tree structure in Object Explorer, but at the cmdline. By default this provider is presented as a PSDrive named SQLSERVER:\, which you can use to connect & navigate SQL Server instances that your domain account has access to. See Configuration steps for information on how to set up Active Directory authentication for SQL Server on Linux.
You can also use SQL authentication with the SQL Server PowerShell Provider. To do this, use the New-PSDrive cmdlet to create a new PSDrive and supply the proper credentials to connect.
In the following example, you see an example of how to create a new PSDrive using SQL authentication.
# NOTE: We are reusing the values saved in the $credential variable from the above example.
New-PSDrive -Name SQLonDocker -PSProvider SqlServer -Root 'SQLSERVER:\SQL\localhost,10002\Default\' -Credential $credential
You can confirm that the drive was created by running the Get-PSDrive cmdlet.
Get-PSDrive
Once you have created your new PSDrive, you can start navigating it.
dir SQLonDocker:\Databases
Here is what the output might look like. You might notice this output is similar to what SSMS displays at the Databases node. It displays the user databases, but not the system databases.
Name Status Size Space Recovery Compat. Owner
Available Model Level
---- ------ ---- ---------- -------- ------- -----
AdventureWorks2022 Normal 209.63 MB 1.31 MB Simple 130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 167.00 MB 32.47 MB Simple 110 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 188.00 MB 78.10 MB Simple 120 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 172.00 MB 74.76 MB Simple 130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 208.00 MB 40.57 MB Simple 140 sa
If you need to see all databases on your instance, one option is to use the Get-SqlDatabase cmdlet.
Get Databases
An important cmdlet to know is the Get-SqlDatabase. For many operations that involve a database, or objects within a database, the Get-SqlDatabase cmdlet can be used. If you supply values for both the -ServerInstance and -Database parameters, only that one database object is retrieved. However, if you specify only the -ServerInstance parameter, a full list of all databases on that instance are returned.
# NOTE: We are reusing the values saved in the $credential variable from the above example.
# Connect to the Instance and retrieve all databases
Get-SqlDatabase -ServerInstance ServerB -Credential $credential
Here is a sample of what the Get-SqlDatabase command returns:
Name Status Size Space Recovery Compat. Owner
Available Model Level
---- ------ ---- ---------- -------- ------- -----
AdventureWorks2022 Normal 209.63 MB 1.31 MB Simple 130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 167.00 MB 32.47 MB Simple 110 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 188.00 MB 78.10 MB Simple 120 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 172.00 MB 74.88 MB Simple 130 sa
AdventureWorksDW2022 Normal 208.00 MB 40.63 MB Simple 140 sa
master Normal 6.00 MB 600.00 KB Simple 140 sa
model Normal 16.00 MB 5.70 MB Full 140 sa
msdb Normal 15.50 MB 1.14 MB Simple 140 sa
tempdb Normal 16.00 MB 5.49 MB Simple 140 sa
Examine SQL Server error logs
The following steps use PowerShell Core to examine error logs connect on your SQL Server instance on Linux.
Copy and paste the following commands at the PowerShell prompt. They might take a few minutes to run. These commands do the following steps:
- Display a dialog that prompts you for the hostname or IP address of your instance
- Display the PowerShell credential request dialog that prompts you for the credentials. You can use your SQL username and SQL password to connect to your SQL Server instance on Linux
- Use the Get-SqlErrorLog cmdlet to connect to the SQL Server instance on Linux and retrieve error logs since Yesterday
Optionally, you can replace the $serverInstance variable with the IP address or the hostname of your SQL Server instance.
# Prompt for instance & credentials to login into SQL Server
$serverInstance = Read-Host "Enter the name of your instance"
$credential = Get-Credential
# Retrieve error logs since yesterday
Get-SqlErrorLog -ServerInstance $serverInstance -Credential $credential -Since Yesterday
# done
Explore cmdlets currently available in PowerShell Core
While the SqlServer module currently has 109 cmdlets available in Windows PowerShell, only 62 of the 109 are available in PSCore. Following is a full list of 62 cmdlets currently available. For in-depth documentation of all cmdlets in the SqlServer module, see the SqlServer cmdlet reference.
The following command shows you all of the cmdlets available on the version of PowerShell you're using.
Get-Command -Module SqlServer -CommandType Cmdlet |
Sort-Object -Property Noun |
SELECT Name
- ConvertFrom-EncodedSqlName
- ConvertTo-EncodedSqlName
- Get-SqlAgent
- Get-SqlAgentJob
- Get-SqlAgentJobHistory
- Get-SqlAgentJobSchedule
- Get-SqlAgentJobStep
- Get-SqlAgentSchedule
- Invoke-SqlAssessment
- Get-SqlAssessmentItem
- Remove-SqlAvailabilityDatabase
- Resume-SqlAvailabilityDatabase
- Add-SqlAvailabilityDatabase
- Suspend-SqlAvailabilityDatabase
- New-SqlAvailabilityGroup
- Set-SqlAvailabilityGroup
- Remove-SqlAvailabilityGroup
- Switch-SqlAvailabilityGroup
- Join-SqlAvailabilityGroup
- Revoke-SqlAvailabilityGroupCreateAnyDatabase
- Grant-SqlAvailabilityGroupCreateAnyDatabase
- New-SqlAvailabilityGroupListener
- Set-SqlAvailabilityGroupListener
- Add-SqlAvailabilityGroupListenerStaticIp
- Set-SqlAvailabilityReplica
- Remove-SqlAvailabilityReplica
- New-SqlAvailabilityReplica
- Set-SqlAvailabilityReplicaRoleToSecondary
- New-SqlBackupEncryptionOption
- Get-SqlBackupHistory
- Invoke-Sqlcmd
- New-SqlCngColumnMasterKeySettings
- Remove-SqlColumnEncryptionKey
- Get-SqlColumnEncryptionKey
- Remove-SqlColumnEncryptionKeyValue
- Add-SqlColumnEncryptionKeyValue
- Get-SqlColumnMasterKey
- Remove-SqlColumnMasterKey
- New-SqlColumnMasterKey
- Get-SqlCredential
- Set-SqlCredential
- New-SqlCredential
- Remove-SqlCredential
- New-SqlCspColumnMasterKeySettings
- Get-SqlDatabase
- Restore-SqlDatabase
- Backup-SqlDatabase
- Set-SqlErrorLog
- Get-SqlErrorLog
- New-SqlHADREndpoint
- Set-SqlHADREndpoint
- Get-SqlInstance
- Add-SqlLogin
- Remove-SqlLogin
- Get-SqlLogin
- Set-SqlSmartAdmin
- Get-SqlSmartAdmin
- Read-SqlTableData
- Write-SqlTableData
- Read-SqlViewData
- Read-SqlXEvent
- Convert-UrnToPath