---
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title: Troubleshoot SQL Server on Linux | Microsoft Docs
description: Provides troubleshooting tips for using SQL Server vNext on Linux.
author: annashres
ms.author: anshrest
manager: jhubbard
ms.date: 03/17/2017
ms.topic: article
ms.prod: sql-linux
ms.technology: database-engine
ms.assetid: 99636ee8-2ba6-4316-88e0-121988eebcf9S
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---
# Troubleshoot SQL Server on Linux
This document describes how to troubleshoot Microsoft SQL Server running on Linux or in a Docker container. When troubleshooting SQL Server on Linux, please make remember the limitations of this private preview release. You can find a list of these in the [Release Notes](sql-server-linux-release-notes.md).
## Troubleshoot connection failures
If you are having difficulty connecting to your Linux SQL Server, there are a few things to check.
- Verify that the server name or IP address is reachable from your client machine.
> [!TIP]
> To find the IP address of your Ubuntu machine, you can run the ifconfig command as in the following example:
>
> ```bash
> sudo ifconfig eth0 | grep 'inet addr'
> ```
> For Red Hat, you can use the ip addr as in the following example:
>
> ```bash
> sudo ip addr show eth0 | grep "inet"
> ```
> One exception to this technique relates to Azure VMs. For Azure VMs, [find the public IP for the VM in the Azure portal](sql-server-linux-azure-virtual-machine.md#connect).
- If applicable, check that you have opened the SQL Server port (default 1433) on the firewall.
- For Azure VMs, check that you have a [network security group rule for the default SQL Server port](sql-server-linux-azure-virtual-machine.md#remote).
- Verify that the user name and password do not contain any typos or extra spaces or incorrect casing.
- Try to explicitly set the protocol and port number with the server name like the following: **tcp:servername,1433**.
- Network connectivity issues can also cause connection errors and timeouts. After verifying your connection information and network connectivity, try the connection again.
## Manage the SQL Server service
The following sections show how to start, stop, restart, and check the status of the SQL Server service.
### Manage the mssql-server service in Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and Ubuntu
Check the status of the status of the SQL Server service using this command:
```bash
sudo systemctl status mssql-server
```
You can stop, start, or restart the SQL Server service as needed using the following commands:
```bash
sudo systemctl stop mssql-server
sudo systemctl start mssql-server
sudo systemctl restart mssql-server
```
### Manage the execution of the mssql Docker container
You can get the status and container ID of the latest created SQL Server Docker container by running the following command (The ID will be under the “CONTAINER ID” column):
```bash
sudo docker ps -l
```
You can stop or restart the SQL Server service as needed using the following commands:
```bash
sudo docker stop
sudo docker restart
```
You can run a new container by using the following command:
```bash
sudo docker run –e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' –e 'SA_PASSWORD=' -p 1433:1433 -d microsoft/mssql-server-linux
```
## Execute commands in a Docker container
If you have a running Docker container, you can execute commands within the container from a host terminal.
To get the container ID run:
```bash
sudo docker ps
```
To start a bash terminal in the container run:
```bash
sudo docker exec -ti /bin/bash
```
Now you can run commands as though you are running them at the terminal inside the container.
Example of how you could read the contents of the error log in the terminal window:
```bash
sudo docker exec -ti d6b75213ef80 /bin/bash root@d6b75213ef80:/# cat /var/opt/mssql/log/errorlog
```
### Copy files from a Docker container
To copy a file out of the container you could do something like this:
```bash
sudo docker cp :
```
Example:
```bash
sudo docker cp d6b75213ef80:/var/opt/mssql/log/errorlog /tmp/errorlog
```
To copy a file in to the container you could do something like this:
```bash
sudo docker cp :
```
Example:
```bash
sudo docker cp /tmp/mydb.mdf d6b75213ef80:/var/opt/mssql/data
```
## Access the log files
The SQL Server engine logs to the /var/opt/mssql/log/errorlog file in both the Linux and Docker installations. You need to be in ‘superuser’ mode to browse this directory.
The installer logs here: /var/opt/mssql/setup-< time stamp representing time of install>
You can browse the errorlog files with any UTF-16 compatible tool like ‘vim’ or ‘cat’ like this:
```bash
sudo cat errorlog
```
If you prefer, you can also convert the files to UTF-8 to read them with ‘more’ or ‘less’ with the following command:
```bash
sudo iconv –f UTF-16LE –t UTF-8 -o