As part of
installing required components, you need to install a database server. You can use either PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server as the primary database with a Premium Edition of LabKey Server. This topic covers the process of setting up a Windows machine to use Microsoft SQL Server as the primary database. Information about other environments is provided
below.
Install and Configure Microsoft SQL Server
For current supported versions of Microsoft SQL Server, see
Supported Technologies.
Basic Installation Topics:
Additional Topics:
Install Microsoft SQL Server
If you already have a licensed version of Microsoft SQL Server in a
supported version, follow the installation instructions noting the requirements outlined for installing an express edition below.
If you don't have a licensed version of Microsoft SQL Server, you can download a free Express Edition. Note that the Express Edition has database size limitations that generally make it inappropriate for production deployments. You can also use the Developer Edition; details may differ slightly from instructions in this topic.
Configure During Installation
During installation, configure Microsoft SQL Server to accept both
Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication, ("Mixed Mode"), and specify a user name and password for the administrative account.
- Select the Custom installation option, choose the download location, then click Install to begin.
- Once the SQL Server Installation Center wizard begins, choose New SQL Server installation.
- Accept the license terms and click Next.
- In the SQL Server 2019 Setup wizard, proceed through the steps accepting defaults until the Database Engine Configuration step:
- Choose Mixed Mode (SQL Server authentication and Windows authentication).
- Keep track of the user name and password; LabKey Server uses it to authenticate to SQL Server. It must be provided in plaintext in labkey.xml or in your mssql.properties file later.
- Complete the wizard.
Using SQL Server with a Local Development Machine
Follow the general steps to set up a development machine, with a few exceptions noted below:
1. You can ignore the instructions here around the config file "labkey.xml", which do not apply to setting up a development server.
2. Instead of
configuring your pg.properties file, use the one for use with Microsoft SQL Server (
mssql.properties), specifying JDBC settings, including URL, port, username, password, etc.
3. Instead of
running "gradlew pickPg" to pick up the properties file, run:
Configure TCP/IP
After you've installed SQL Server, you'll need to configure it to use TCP/IP. Follow these steps:
- Launch the SQL Server Configuration Manager.
- Under the SQL Server Network Configuration node, select Protocols for <servername>.
- In the right pane, right-click on TCP/IP and choose Enable.
- Right-click on TCP/IP and choose Properties.
- Switch to the IP Addresses tab.
- Scroll down to the IPAll section, clear the value next to TCP Dynamic Ports and set the value for TCP Port to 1433 and click OK. By default, SQL Server will choose a random port number each time it starts, but the JDBC driver expects SQL Server to be listening on port 1433.
- Click OK
- Restart the service by selecting the SQL Server Services node in the left pane, selecting SQL Server <edition name> in the right pane, and choosing Restart from the Action menu (or use the Restart button on the toolbar).
SQL Server Management Studio
Download the SQL Server Management Studio graphical database management tool.
- Navigate to: Download SQL Server Management Studio
- Click the download link to obtain the latest general availability (GA) version of SQL Server Management Studio
- Run the downloaded .exe file.
- Use Windows Update to install the latest service packs.
Set Up a Login
You may want to set up a new login (in addition to the "sa" system administrator) for LabKey Server to use to connect to SQL Server:
- Run SQL Server Management Studio.
- Connect to the database.
- Under Security > Logins, add a new login, using SQL Server authentication.
- Enter the user name and password.
- Use this password to configure the data source below.
LabKey Configuration File
Edit the
LabKey Server configuration file (usually named labkey.xml or ROOT.xml) to configure the jTDS JDBC driver for Microsoft SQL Server, available with Premium Editions of LabKey Server.
Comment out the Resource tag that specifies the PostgreSQL configuration. This Resource tag can be identified by the driverClassName "org.postgresql.Driver". After commenting out this resource tag, it should look similar to the following:
Comment out PostgreSQL Resource Tag
<!--
<Resource name="jdbc/labkeyDataSource" auth="Container"
type="javax.sql.DataSource"
username="postgres"
password="sa"
driverClassName="org.postgresql.Driver"
url="jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5433/labkey162"
maxTotal="20"
maxIdle="10"
maxWaitMillis="120000"
accessToUnderlyingConnectionAllowed="true"
validationQuery="SELECT 1"
/>
-->
Add MS SQL Server Resource Tag
Use the following template for configuring a MS SQL Server data source. Replace USERNAME, PASSWORD, and DATABASE_NAME to fit the particulars of your target data source.
<Resource name="jdbc/labkeyDataSource" auth="Container"
type="javax.sql.DataSource"
username="USERNAME"
password="PASSWORD"
driverClassName="net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver"
url="jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://localhost:1433/DATABASE_NAME"
maxTotal="20"
maxIdle="10"
maxWaitMillis="120000"
accessToUnderlyingConnectionAllowed="true"
validationQuery="SELECT 1"/>
Documentation for this driver is available on
SourceForge. Other JDBC drivers for Microsoft SQL Server have
not been tested and have known issues.
Note: The maxWaitMillis parameter is provided to prevent server deadlocks. Waiting threads will time out when no connections are available rather than hang the server indefinitely.
Install CLR Functions (GROUP_CONCAT)
When setting up SQL Server, you may need to separately install the GROUP_CONCAT
Common Language Runtime (CLR) function. For details see
GROUP_CONCAT Install.
You may also need to install the PremiumStats CLR functions separately. For details see
PremiumStats Install.
EHR users may also need to install LDKNaturalize, following similar methods.
SQL Server Synonyms
LabKey Server supports the use of
SQL Server Synonyms. These alternative names function like shortcuts or symlinks, allowing you to "mount" tables and views which actually exist in another schema or database. For more information, see
SQL Synonyms.
Installation on Other Platforms
VirtualBox Deployment
On all operating systems, you can set up a
VirtualBox VM running Windows and install SQL Server there. These
Mac-specific instructions, combined with the documentation above should get you running.
Linux Deployment
Microsoft has started distributing a native Linux version:
Docker Deployment
The Linux edition of SQL Server is also available within a Docker container:
Related Topics
