Installing SQL Server 2019 Developer Edition

Well, it is finally out!  SQL Server 2019 was released on 11/1/2019 and there are a bunch of new features and enhancements.  Today we are going to install the developer edition so you can see the new install screens.

UPDATED:  SQL Server 2022 is now out, follow this link to see the steps to get it and install:  Installing SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition

First thing you need to do is to go to Microsoft’s site and initiate the download.  Here is the link I used:  https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-downloads

That brings you to the screen below.  Click the download now button under developer to get the right version.  The Developer edition is the full blown Enterprise version, but can only use for development or testing and cannot be used for production workloads!

This downloads a 5 meg installer file.

Now double click this file to get to the “real” download.  When this screen pops up, I click “Download Media” to download the ISO.

It then asks you what format you want to get the download file in.  I choose ISO.

Now it is downloading the ISO.

Now we finally have the ISO.

Now, go find it on your hard drive.

Double clicking the ISO should mount it and show you contents of the ISO.  Double click the “setup” file.

This opens the SQL Server Installation Center.  This should look familiar to anyone that has installed the database before.  Pick the New SQL Server standalone installation option.

Next, select developer for what version to install.

Now you need to accept the license.  Feel free to read it, I’ll wait.

Now you get to choose how you want updates to be applied.  I usually leave this unchecked so I have more control on when updates are applied.

For today’s installation, I am only going to install the database engine.  Looking below, you can see all of the new items that have been added to the install process.

I also install the following items.

I already have SQL Server installed on this server, so for any additional installs I need to create a Named Instance.  I pick: SQL2019 for the name.  Remember this as you need it to connect to it.

Now you need to pick the service accounts that will be used for the services.  In a production environment I use Active Directory accounts, but for this install, I will just use the defaults.  By using Active Directory accounts, you can save backups to a UNC path  (\\backupserver\backups) and other cases like Log Shipping and Availability Groups this is required.

Next we need to decide on a Authentication Mode.  Using Windows authentication is the preferred way, but some legacy applications still need Mixed Mode to run.  You can change this after installing if you “choose poorly”, but it requires a restart of the service.

Here is a new screen!  During the install it is asking what MaxDOP we should use.  Here are some outstanding resources that explain what value you should pick for MaxDOP.  In previous versions, you would need to change this after installing.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/configure-the-max-degree-of-parallelism-server-configuration-option?view=sql-server-ver15

https://www.brentozar.com/archive/2013/09/five-sql-server-settings-to-change/

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2806535/recommendations-and-guidelines-for-the-max-degree-of-parallelism-confi

https://littlekendra.com/2016/07/14/max-degree-of-parallelism-cost-threshold-for-parallelism/

Another new screen!  It now asks you what percentage of RAM  you should allocate for SQL Server.  There are plenty of formulas out there, but for this install and my server having limited resources, I choose to use half of the RAM 2gigs.

In previous versions before this new screen, most people would not change this value and have all kinds of swapping problems with the OS because SQL Server would default to using all of the RAM on the server.

See what happens when you do not read the entire screen, you get errors.  I forgot to click the checkbox saying I accept the recommended settings from SQL Server.

Finally we get to the summary screen.  Press Install to start.

The install time depends on how fast your disks are and what other activity is happening on the server and what options you choose.

Finally the install is done and it is requesting a reboot.

After rebooting, you can see all of the new entries for SQL Server 2019.

Lets see if we can login to our new instance.  I have to specify the instance name SQL2019 since we have multiple versions of SQL Server installed already.

Yay, we can connect.  Looking at the properties we see that the Developer edition is installed.

Running the @@version query shows additional information.

And there you have it.  The install process is similar to previous versions, but there are some new beneficial prompts that have to be answered.

Also don’t forget to patch.  There was a patch that came out the same day SQL Server 2019 was released to the public.