SQL Server 2025 on Linux with hybrid CPU architecture

[felixSabatie]

I need to run an sqlserver 2025 container on my linux machine running fedora, but it doesn't work unless I limit the cpuset to "0-7" in my docker compose file. I also need this image to work using testcontainers, which doesn't seem to support a cpuset option.

I run a cpu that has E-cores and found this section in the documentation :

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/linux/sql-server-linux-known-issues?view=sql-server-ver17&tabs=rhel9#sql-server-on-linux-fails-to-start-on-machines-with-hybrid-cpu-architecture

The suggested solution is to

work around the issue by disabling efficiency cores (E-cores) in your BIOS.

Which I'm not willing to do.

Will this issue be addressed in a future update ?

[tracker1]

You should probably be able to cpuset somehow with your test container environment as necessary... Not knowing what you're using for testing it's hard to offer specific advice there.

How tied are you to MS-SQL in and of itself?

[felixSabatie]

We're specifically using sql server 2025 features so I don't have an alternative here. As for the test containers we're using the MsSqlBuilder : https://dotnet.testcontainers.org/modules/mssql/

[tracker1]

@felixSabatie here's what I got via some googling for test container usage... No idea if it's accurate/correct.

using Testcontainers.MsSql;
using DotNet.Testcontainers.Builders;

var msSqlContainer = new MsSqlBuilder()
    .WithImage("mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2025-latest")
    // Limit to CPU cores 0 and 1
    .WithCreateContainerModifier(cmd => cmd.WithCpusetCpus("0-1"))
    // Optionally set cpu shares to further restrict usage
    //.WithCreateContainerModifier(cmd => cmd.WithCpuShares(1024))
    .Build();

await msSqlContainer.StartAsync();

[felixSabatie]

I can't find any references to WithCreateContainerModifier online, I don't know where you got that. Anyways, thanks for your help but my main question is : does Microsoft plan to fix this bug in the near future?

[tracker1]

@felixSabatie I can't speak to that, I don't work for Microsoft... From what I've observed, they've really constrained and drawn back on a lot of support for SQL Server as a standalone product beyond Enterprise customers. Docker support is pretty much just treading in the water, while they've removed the Azure SQL Edge, but do seem to have some embeddable IoT version... the former was about the only ARM option short of expensive emulation overhand.

Support for many features continue to be Windows Only, not even supporting the Linux edition well. I would assume that the vast majority of their income is purely Windows Server deployments an Azure hosted accounts (also Windows Hosted).

For the past few years, I've tended to favor just using PostgreSQL where it's an option or even SQLite where it fits (as opposed to say Express). It's kind of a shame as I always thought of MS-SQL Server as a really good commercial option for most projects. I'm even working on a TypeScript adapter for Deno/Node/Bun using Rust+FFI in order to better support a few of said Windows Only features... the irony is I don't use Windows on my personal devices, and I cannot use work resources for this project, that I will likely use at work as a library.