Author: Ahmet Orhan

1.1 System Update

Before starting any installation, ensure the system is fully up to date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

1.2 Timezone Configuration

Set the server timezone to Turkey (Europe/Istanbul):

sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Istanbul
timedatectl status

Expected output:

1.3 Required Packages

sudo apt install -y curl wget gnupg2 software-properties-common apt-transport-https

2.1 Downloading the Plesk Installer

Download the installer to /tmp, then execute it:

curl -o /tmp/plesk-installer https://autoinstall.plesk.com/plesk-installer
chmod +x /tmp/plesk-installer
sudo /tmp/plesk-installer

2.2 Installation Options

Select Plesk Obsidian from the interactive installer menu. Installation time varies between 10–30 minutes depending on server speed.

2.3 First Login

Once installation is complete, access the panel via browser:

https://<server-ip>:8443

2.4 Plesk License

After installation, Plesk runs with a 14-day trial license. License information can be found at Tools & Settings → License Management.

3.1 Add Microsoft GPG Key and Repository

# Add the GPG key
curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/microsoft-prod.gpg

# Add the SQL Server 2025 Preview repository
curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/24.04/mssql-server-preview.list | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-server-preview.list

sudo apt update

3.2 Install SQL Server

sudo apt install -y mssql-server

3.3 Initial Configuration

sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf setup

During the setup wizard:

3.4 Start the Service and Verify

sudo systemctl start mssql-server
sudo systemctl enable mssql-server
sudo systemctl status mssql-server

3.5 Install sqlcmd Tools

# Add the sqlcmd repository
curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/24.04/prod.list | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-tools18.list

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y mssql-tools18 unixodbc-dev

# Add to PATH
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools18/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

3.6 Connection Test

sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P '<your-SA-password>' -C -Q "SELECT @@VERSION"

4.1 Stop the Service

sudo systemctl stop mssql-server
sudo systemctl status mssql-server
# Should show: Active: inactive (dead)

4.2 Change the Edition

In SQL Server 2025, edition changes are made using the set-edition command:

sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf set-edition

Select Developer from the menu that appears and confirm.

4.3 Restart the Service

sudo systemctl start mssql-server
sudo systemctl status mssql-server

4.4 Verify the Edition Change

sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P '<your-SA-password>' -C -Q \
  "SELECT Edition, ProductVersion, GETDATE() AS SqlServerTime FROM sys.dm_os_sys_info CROSS JOIN (SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Edition') AS Edition, SERVERPROPERTY('ProductVersion') AS ProductVersion) AS props"

Successful output:

5.1 License Screen

Additional license keys are managed under Tools & Settings → License Management → Additional License Keys. This screen is empty on the trial version.

5.2 License Renewal / Purchase

6.1 Current Architecture

6.2 Connecting to MSSQL Remotely

Open port 1433 in the firewall:

sudo ufw allow 1433/tcp
sudo ufw reload

Then connect using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) or Azure Data Studio on Windows:

6.3 Using MSSQL in Plesk-hosted Web Applications

A web application hosted on Plesk that needs to connect to MSSQL should use localhost,1433 or the server IP in its connection string. Plesk does not manage this connection — the application connects directly to MSSQL.

# .NET / C# example connection string
Server=localhost,1433;Database=MyDb;User Id=SA;Password=<password>;TrustServerCertificate=True;

# PHP (PDO) example
$pdo = new PDO("sqlsrv:Server=localhost,1433;Database=MyDb", "SA", "<password>");

7.1 Service Management

# Start the service
sudo systemctl start mssql-server

# Stop the service
sudo systemctl stop mssql-server

# Restart the service
sudo systemctl restart mssql-server

# Check status
sudo systemctl status mssql-server

# Enable auto-start on boot
sudo systemctl enable mssql-server

7.2 Basic Operations with sqlcmd

# Connect
sqlcmd -S localhost -U SA -P '<password>' -C

# List databases
SELECT name FROM sys.databases;
GO

# Create a new database
CREATE DATABASE MyDatabase;
GO

# Create a user
CREATE LOGIN myuser WITH PASSWORD = 'Strong@Password123';
CREATE USER myuser FOR LOGIN myuser;
GO

# Check version and edition
SELECT @@VERSION;
SELECT SERVERPROPERTY('Edition');
GO

7.3 Log Files

# MSSQL log directory
sudo ls /var/opt/mssql/log/

# View the error log
sudo tail -100 /var/opt/mssql/log/errorlog

7.4 mssql-conf Configuration Commands

# List all settings
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf list

# Change edition
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf set-edition

# Reset SA password
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf set-sa-password

# Set memory limit (in MB)
sudo /opt/mssql/bin/mssql-conf set memory.memorylimitmb 4096