SQL Server 2025 Preview: Now Supporting Ubuntu 24.04 and TLS 1.3

We are excited to introduce two key enhancements in the SQL Server 2025 Release Candidate 0 (RC0) for Linux: Ubuntu 24.04 and the addition of Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3 support. These updates enable developers, database administrators, and IT professionals to leverage the latest open-source technologies and security protocols, strengthening their data platforms.

Ubuntu 24.04 Support in SQL Server 2025 RC0

SQL Server 2025 Preview now supports Ubuntu 24.04. This enables seamless deployment in Dev/Test environments using the Enterprise Evaluation Edition, which is valid for 180 days. 

Note: Production workloads on Ubuntu 24.04 are not yet supported; for production, use SQL Server 2022 on Ubuntu 22.04 or RHEL 9.

How to Deploy SQL Server 2025 RC0 on Ubuntu 24.04

Getting started is easy! You can follow our Quickstart: Install SQL Server and create a database on Ubuntu to walks through everything—from prepping your system to installing and configuring SQL Server on Ubuntu. 

In this demo, I'll show you how to deploy SQL Server 2025 RC0 on Ubuntu 24.04 running inside WSL2. I've already set up Ubuntu 24.04 on WSL2 and Docker Desktop to manage containers.

With just two commands, I was able to launch SQL Server 2025 RC0 in a container. I then connected to it using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), where you can see the version information displayed, confirming a successful deployment. 

lsb_release -a

docker pull mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2025-RC0-ubuntu-24.04

docker run -e "ACCEPT_EULA=Y" -e "MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD=<password>" \
 -e "MSSQL_AGENT_ENABLED=true" \
-p 14333:1433 --name sql2025preview --hostname sql2025preview \
-d mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2025-RC0-ubuntu-24.04

Here is the snippet of SQL Server ERRORLOG

This shows the initial startup messages and confirms the SQL Server version running inside the container.

TLS 1.3 Support in SQL Server 2025 RC0

Starting in SQL Server 2025 Preview (RC0), TLS 1.3 is enabled by default. To enable and validate TLS 1.3 for your SQL Server instance, follow the Learn guide: Encrypt Connections to SQL Server on Linux - SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

Conclusion

The addition of Ubuntu 24.04 and TLS 1.3 support in SQL Server 2025 Preview marks a significant step forward in providing modern, secure, and flexible data platform options. We encourage you to try out these new capabilities and share your feedback as we continue to improve SQL Server for the Linux ecosystem. We recommend you use any of the following options that suits you the best. 

1) Send us an email with your feedback to sqlpreviewpackage@microsoft.com. 

2) Another option would be to submit your comments directly on Azure Ideas (Use the SQL Server on Linux Group on the left side of the page)

3) Alternatively, you can open issues related to the preview packages Issues · microsoft/mssql-docker (github.com) on GitHub. 

We hope you give SQL Server 2025 preview on Ubuntu 24.04 a try and let us know what you think!