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Overview

This template provides a production‑ready Microsoft SQL Server instance as a Monk runnable. You can:
  • Run it directly to get a managed SQL Server container with sensible defaults
  • Inherit it in your own runnable to seamlessly add a relational database to your stack
It exposes SQL Server on port 1433, persists data to a host volume, and includes SA (system administrator) authentication.

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What this template manages

  • SQL Server container (mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server image, configurable tag)
  • Network service on port 1433
  • Persistent volumes for data storage
  • SA authentication and EULA acceptance

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Quick start (run directly)

  1. Load templates
monk load MANIFEST
  1. Run SQL Server with defaults
monk run mssql/db
  1. Customize credentials (recommended via inheritance)
Running directly uses the defaults defined in this template’s variables. Secrets added with monk secrets add will not affect this runnable unless you inherit it and reference those secrets.
  • Preferred: inherit and replace variables with secret("...") as shown below.
  • Alternative: fork/clone and edit the variables in mssql.yml, then monk load MANIFEST and run.
Once started, connect to localhost:1433 (or the runnable hostname inside Monk networks) using the configured SA credentials.

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Configuration

Key variables you can customize in this template: 
variables:
  monk_mssql_accept_eula: "Y"          # EULA acceptance (required, env: ACCEPT_EULA)
  monk_mssql_sa_password: "P@ssw0rd"   # SA password (env: SA_PASSWORD)
Note: The default SA password is P@ssw0rd. Always change this in production environments. Data is persisted under ${monk-volume-path}/mssql on the host, mapped to /var/opt/mssql in the container. Inherit the SQL Server runnable in your application and declare a connection. Example: 
namespace: myapp
db:
  defines: runnable
  inherits: mssql/db
  variables:
    monk_mssql_sa_password:
      value: <- secret("mssql-sa-password")
api:
  defines: runnable
  containers:
    api:
      image: myorg/api
  connections:
    database:
      runnable: db
      service: mssql-svc
  variables:
    database-host:
      value: <- connection-hostname("database")
    database-user:
      value: "sa"
    database-password:
      value: <- secret("mssql-sa-password")
Then set the secrets once and run your app group: 
monk secrets add -g mssql-sa-password="STRONG_SA_PASSWORD"
monk run myapp/api

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Ports and connectivity

  • Service: mssql-svc on TCP port 1433
  • From other runnables in the same process group, use connection-hostname("\<connection-name>") to resolve the DB host.

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Persistence and configuration

  • Data path: ${monk-volume-path}/mssql:/var/opt/mssql
  • This volume contains all SQL Server data files, logs, and system databases.

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Features

  • Full T-SQL support
  • ACID transactions
  • Stored procedures and triggers
  • Full-text search
  • Replication and high availability
  • Integration with Azure
  • Business intelligence capabilities
  • See other templates in this repository for complementary services
  • Combine with monitoring tools for observability
  • Integrate with your application stack as needed

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Troubleshooting

  • If you changed monk_mssql_sa_password but the container has existing data, authentication may fail. Either reset the data volume or update the password inside the DB to match.
  • Ensure the host volumes are writable by the container user.
  • The SA password must meet Microsoft’s complexity requirements (uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters).
  • Check logs:
monk logs -l 500 -f mssql/db