Setting up your environment

Downloading SQL Server

In this lecture, we’ll set up the environment in which we’ll work, this includes downloading and
installing SQL Server if you do not already have it, and also downloading and restoring the
database backup file.

There are generally two ways you can download SQL Server. You can either directly download
the installation media known as the offline installer or download the web installer which will in
turn download the installation media. We’ll only focus on the offline installer.

Downloading SQL Server

To download the Offline installer from the Visual Studio marketplace, you need to have the free
Developer Essentials subscription. To get this subscription, head over to Visual Studio Dev
Essentials (https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/dev-essentials/), where you’ll be required to log in
using your Microsoft account (or create a new one if you don’t have any). Once logged in, you
can click on Join or access now to get the subscription.

You’ll then be redirected to the Benefits page. Click on Downloads to navigate to the
Downloads page.
In the search bar on the Downloads page type in SQL Server (or the specific edition of SQL
Server you’re interested in) and then press Enter to start the search.

You’ll be presented with a list of all available downloads.

Select the version of SQL Server you’re interested in (e.g. SQL Server 2016 Developer).
Ensure you change the following fields if necessary:

● Computer architecture: x86 or x64 based systems

● Product language: the available languages depend on the Edition of SQL Server
(English, French, German, Chinese, etc.)
● Installation media format: (DVD, OTH, EXT, etc.)
● The size of the media installation will be around 1.5 - 3 GB.

For most basic installations, leave DVD as the installation media format. This will provide us
with an ISO format of the installation media, which we can mount (or extract), and install
whenever the need arises.