Create Python apps using SQL Server on macOS

In this section, you will get SQL Server 2017 running on Docker. After that you will install the necessary dependencies to create Python apps with SQL Server

Step 1.1 Install SQL Server

1. In order to run SQL Server on your Mac, we are going to use the SQL Server on Linux Docker Image. For this, you need to install Docker for Mac.
2. Configure at least 4GB of memory for your Docker environment, also consider adding multiple cores if you want to evaluate performance. You can do this in the Preferences - Advanced option on the menu bar.
3. Next, start a new Terminal prompt and use the following commands to download and start the SQL Server on Linux Docker image. Make sure to use a strong password with special characters.

sudo docker pull microsoft/mssql-server-linux:2017-latest
docker run -e 'HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_FILTERING=1' -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=yourStrong(!)Password' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux

You now have SQL Server running locally in Docker! Check out the next section to continue installing prerequisites.

Step 1.2 Install Homebrew and Python

1. Install Homebrew.

     ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
   

2. Restart the terminal session.

3. Install Python

    brew install python
   

    ==> Downloading https://homebrew.bintray.com/bottles/python-2.7.12.el_capitan.bottle.tar.gz
   
    ...
   
    ==> Caveats
    Pip and setuptools have been installed. To update them
      pip install --upgrade pip setuptools
   
    You can install Python packages with
      pip install
   
    ==> Summary
    🍺  /usr/local/Cellar/python/2.7.12: 3,476 files, 46.7M
   

You now have Python installed! The next section will walk you through getting the tools to interact with your database.

Step 1.3 Install the ODBC Driver and SQL Command Line Utility for SQL Server

SQLCMD for Mac is a command line utility that enables you to connect to SQL Server and run queries.

brew tap microsoft/mssql-release https://github.com/Microsoft/homebrew-mssql-release
brew update
brew install --no-sandbox msodbcsql17 mssql-tools

After installing SQLCMD, you can connect to SQL Server using the following command:

sqlcmd -S 127.0.0.1 -U sa -P your_password
1> # You're connected! Type your T-SQL statements here. Use the keyword 'GO' to execute each batch of statements.

This how to run a basic inline query. The results will be printed to the STDOUT.

sqlcmd -S 127.0.0.1 -U sa -P your_password -Q "SELECT @@VERSION"

--------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft SQL Server vNext (CTP2.0) - 14.0.500.272 (X64) 
	Apr 13 2017 11:44:40 
	Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation
    on Linux (Ubuntu 16.04)

1 rows(s) returned

Executed in 1 ns

You have successfully installed SQL Server Command Line Utilities on your macOS!

You have successfully installed the Python Driver on your Mac. You now have everything you need to start writing your Python apps with SQL Server!