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Run MSSQL with the Operator

This quickstart deploys a standalone SQL Server instance directly with the MSSQL Operator — no platform required, just Kubernetes and kubectl.

Prerequisites​

1. Install the operator​

info

The MSSQL Operator is not publicly available — you need Solanica registry credentials to pull the chart and image. See Installation → Authenticate for the full steps, or contact us to request access.

Log in and create an image pull Secret with the credentials Solanica provided:

helm registry login ghcr.io --username <your-username> --password <your-access-token>

kubectl create namespace mssql-operator-system
kubectl create secret docker-registry solanica-registry \
  --docker-server=ghcr.io \
  --docker-username=<your-username> \
  --docker-password=<your-access-token> \
  --namespace mssql-operator-system

Then install the operator:

helm install mssql-operator \
  oci://ghcr.io/solanicaio/charts/mssql-operator \
  --version 0.1.9 \
  --namespace mssql-operator-system --create-namespace \
  --set manager.imagePullSecrets[0].name=solanica-registry

Verify the controller and CRDs:

kubectl get pods -n mssql-operator-system
kubectl get crds | grep mssql.solanica.io

2. Create the SA password Secret​

kubectl create secret generic my-mssql-secret \
  --from-literal=MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD='YourStrong@Passw0rd'

SQL Server enforces a strong password policy (8+ characters with upper, lower, digit, and symbol).

3. Create an instance​

Save the following as instance.yaml:

apiVersion: mssql.solanica.io/v1alpha1
kind: MSSQLInstance
metadata:
  name: my-mssql
spec:
  size: 1
  acceptEULA: true
  saPasswordSecret: my-mssql-secret
  storage:
    size: 8Gi

Apply it and watch it come up:

kubectl apply -f instance.yaml
kubectl get mssqlinstances -w
# NAME       SIZE   READY   STATUS         AGE
# my-mssql   1      0       initializing   5s
# my-mssql   1      1       ready          45s

4. Connect​

SA_PASSWORD=$(kubectl get secret my-mssql-secret -o jsonpath='{.data.MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD}' | base64 -d)
kubectl port-forward pod/my-mssql-0 1433:1433
sqlcmd -S "tcp:localhost,1433" -U sa -P "$SA_PASSWORD" -C -Q "SELECT @@VERSION"

See Connecting for more options.

Next steps​