Copying mssql DB to laravel sail docker container - sql-server

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I'm trying to use SqlServer as my DB repo in a laravel project running in sail.
Here's the relevant lines from the laravel docker-compose.yml
mssql:
image: 'mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest'
ports:
- '${MSSQL_FORWARD_DB_PORT:-1432}:1433' // running on nonstandard port because I have other containers running
environment:
ACCEPT_EULA: "Y"
MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD: "MyDBP#ssword!1"
networks:
- sail
volumes:
- 'sail-mssql:/data/mssql'
I can connect to the Docker SqlServer instance from SSMS using my expected connection of tcp:localhost,1432 but when I try to run the "copy" operation from a local DB to the remote container, it gives the following error:
TITLE: Copy Database Wizard
------------------------------
The action you attempted to perform on a remote SQL Server instance failed because the
action requires a SQL Server component that is not installed on the remote computer. To
proceed, install Microsoft SQL Server Management Tools on the remote computer, and then
try again. For more information, see "How to: Install Microsoft SQL Server (Setup)" in
Microsoft SQL Server Books Online, or find the article on MSDN at
https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=57083 .
For help, click: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=57083
------------------------------
BUTTONS:
OK
------------------------------
Naturally, the URL returns a 404 on the MS docs site, and every MSDN article I can find simply tells me to install SQL Server command-line tools instead Microsoft SQL Server Management Tools. This doesn't help unfortunately-- the command line tools are already installed with the docker image.
Is it possible to copy a DB from a Windows machine to Docker via SSMS

Answer 1

It's possible to copy a database from a Windows machine to a SQL Server instance running in a Docker container using SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS), but you may need to use a different method than the Copy Database Wizard.
One way to do this is by using the Generate Scripts wizard in SSMS to create a script that contains the schema and data of the source database, and then running that script on the SQL Server instance running in the Docker container.
Here are the general steps:
In SSMS on the Windows machine, connect to the source SQL Server instance and right-click on the database you want to copy.
Select Tasks > Generate Scripts to start the Generate Scripts wizard.
Follow the wizard to select the objects and options you want to include in the script. Be sure to select "Schema and data" for the "Types of data to script" option.
On the "Set Scripting Options" page, click the "Advanced" button and set the "Script for server version" option to the version of SQL Server running in the Docker container.
Save the script to a file.
Copy the script file to the Docker container running SQL Server. You can use the docker cp command to do this.
In SSMS on the Docker container, connect to the SQL Server instance and open a new query window.
Open the script file in SSMS and run it to create the database.
This method may not be the most efficient or practical for very large databases or frequent copying of databases. In those cases, you may want to consider using other methods, such as by SQL Server Native Client.