I've written a few articles about how I use SQL Server and Docker on my Mac for local development and testing. Some folks need a full-blown Windows environment and, for them, virtual machines (using vmWare Fusion, Parallels, or others) are the only option. Or a separate, dedicated Windows machine. For most of what I do, a container can do plenty; even on the new M1 MacBook Pro.
- I first wrote about this topic back in 2016:
VS Code on Mac Meets SQL Server on Linux (in Docker) - And this video is definitely a good place to start, regardless of what operating system you're deploying containers to:
Learn How to Deploy SQL Server 2019 in Containers in Just Minutes - I wrote a few quick tips:
- Joey D'Antoni shows how to enable Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC) inside a container.
- For a recent T-SQL Tuesday I talk about how I use containers:
T-SQL Tuesday #140 : What have you been up to with containers? - And I've written about getting SQL Server running on M1 MacBooks and performance results:
Testing SQL Server Edge and Docker on the latest MacBooks
Performance Testing Azure SQL Edge on Intel and M1 MacBooks
Regular SQL Server on Apple Silicon? Yes you can!
At a higher level, to see why I started (and continue) using Macs in the first place (mostly it boils down to you get what you pay for):