Hello again friends! It's been several years since I last discussed the SQL Server versions I use for this blog, so it is once again time for an update!
The most significant environment changes have been on my end. With the transition to Apple Silicon, I am no longer able to readily run a supported SQL Server installation on my local machine in a VM. For a time I was able to use a Docker container to run Azure SQL Edge, but it is no longer supported on ARM (and is going away in 2025 anyway). It's a shame it's going away - I had learned a bit about Docker and had sorted out adding persistent storage so I could keep my databases in my local filesystem.
And so it goes.
Some folks have had luck with LocalDB, but that's not what I'm after. The closest I've been able to come is installing a proper instance of SQL Server in a Windows 11 ARM VM via some tweaked installation .bat files. These mostly work, and you can even install SQL Server 2022 this way. That said, it's not without tradeoffs - a lot of things don't work right, and a fair number of things don't work at all. Core database engine functionality seems sound enough for basic development but as it is absolutely unsupported, this is very much an 'At Your Own Risk' proposition. Don't write production code here, is what I'm saying. It lets me poke around when I'm not at home, at any rate.
On the officially-supported front, I now have (well, have had for a few years now...) a Linux computer humming away in the corner running Ubuntu Server 16.04 (SQL Server now supports later versions; this was the current at the time), so I am able to run SQL Server on Linux from there. I'm running SQL Server 2019 on that machine. I also have a pair of Windows computers (one desktop, one laptop), running SQL Server 2019. I will be updating at least one to SQL Server 2022 in the near future, and I will be installing a SQL Server 2025 instance when a preview or Developer Edition becomes available.
(1 Dec 2024 quick update: I am now on SQL Server 2022 on one of my Windows machines. Woo!)
On my SQL Server 2019 instances, I am running the latest Cumulative Update (as of this writing, it's the Security Update for CU29). This will be the case for SQL Server 2022 as well. As always, the Microsoft SQL Server Versions List blog is invaluable for keeping abreast of the latest release information.
Most of what I'm really interested in hasn't changed much, but please do be aware that I will always take advantage of the latest available T-SQL language features. Prior to 2017, I had to implement STRING_AGG-equivalent functionality from scratch SO MANY TIMES, and I'm not a fan of beating myself up any more than I have to. In short, if you're trying to follow along on an older version of SQL Server you may run into obstacles of varying surmountability.
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