Seamless Transition: Empowering SQL Server DBAs, Developers and Data Engineers with a Pathway to Master SQL Server on Linux

Moving SQL Server workloads to Linux still makes a lot of DBAs nervous, mostly because it sounds like starting over. It isn't. Amit Khandelwal spends this session showing why the tools that already feel familiar, SQL Server Management Studio included, carry over more directly than most people expect.

The session is demo-driven rather than slide-heavy, walking through what an actual Windows-to-Linux transition looks like for DBAs, developers, and data engineers who need to keep systems running while they modernize. Containers get real attention too, specifically how they change what a rapid SQL Server deployment can look like once Linux is in the picture.

None of this assumes a clean break from existing Windows infrastructure. Integration with what's already running is treated as a requirement, not an afterthought.

• What actually changes, and what doesn't, when SQL Server moves to Linux
• How SSMS and familiar tooling carry over across the transition
• Where containers fit into faster, more flexible SQL Server deployments
• How to keep Linux and Windows environments working together during modernization

Most of the friction in this kind of transition comes from assuming it's harder than it is. This session is built to correct that assumption early.

• How to transition SQL Server workloads from Windows to Linux using familiar tools
• What modernizing data infrastructure with SQL Server on Linux actually involves
• How containers enable faster, more flexible SQL Server deployments
• Practical approaches for integrating Linux-based SQL Server with existing Windows systems

SQL Server on Linux isn't a reinvention for DBAs and developers who already know the platform. It's an extension of what they already do, with new deployment options that make modernization more practical than it used to be.