How to test connectivity to a Microsoft SQL database using the Linux command line

Here are some useful commands when working with Microsoft SQL and Linux, specifically pertaining to the `sqlcmd` mssql-cli utility.

Update 16 July 2021

It appears sqlcmd has been renamed and is now called mssql-cli.

Testing Connectivity using mssql-cli

The format for testing connectivity is:

mssql-cli -S ip_address_or_hostname -U user -P password

Testing Connectivity using `sqlcmd`

sqlcmd -S user.database.windows.net -U db_user -P db_password

View all Databases

1> select name from sys.databases
2> go

Select Records

1> select top 10 * from table_name order by id desc
2> go

References

Installation

• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/mssql-cli?view=sql-server-ver15

Usage

• https://github.com/dbcli/mssql-cli/blob/master/doc/usage_guide.md

Other

• https://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_top.asp
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/tools/sqlcmd-utility?view=sql-server-ver15
• https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-setup-tools?view=sql-server-ver15
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2087902/sqlserver-08-query-to-list-all-databases-in-an-instancehttps://stackoverflow.com/questions/124205/how-can-i-do-the-equivalent-of-show-tables-in-t-sql