Using Liquibase with MSSQL

Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system. SQL Server supports different editions and components that accommodate unique performance and depend on your specific requirements.

Note: For more information, see the SQL Server documentation page.

Supported versions

2019
2017
2016
2014

Prerequisites

Install Liquibase.
Create a Liquibase project folder to store all Liquibase files. You can do this manually or with the init project command.
Create a new Liquibase properties file or use the liquibase.properties file included in the installation package. For more information, see Create and Configure a liquibase.properties File.

Install drivers

To use Liquibase and Microsoft SQL Server, you need the JDBC driver JAR file (Maven download).

The latest version of Liquibase has a pre-installed driver for this database in the liquibase/internal/lib directory. Read more: Adding and Updating Liquibase Drivers.

If you use Maven, you must include the driver JAR as a dependency in your pom.xml file. Read more: Configuring Liquibase Attributes in your Maven POM File.

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.microsoft.sqlserver</groupId>
    <artifactId>mssql-jdbc</artifactId>
    <version>11.1.2.jre8</version>
</dependency>

Test your connection

Ensure your Microsoft SQL Server is configured. You can check the status by using one of a management tool or by running the ping command. Also, you can use the sqlcmd utility and run sqlcmd -SmyServer\instanceName.

Note: Replace myServer\instanceName with the name of the computer and the instance of SQL Server that you want to connect to.

Specify the database URL in the Liquibase properties file. Liquibase does not parse the URL. You can either specify the full database connection string or specify the URL using your database's standard JDBC format:

url: jdbc:sqlserver://<host>:<port>;databaseName=<dbname>

Note: Depending on the configuration you use, your URL format may be different. For more information, see Building the Connection URL.

Tip: To apply a Liquibase Pro key to your project, add the following property to the Liquibase properties file: licenseKey: <paste code here>

Create a text file called changelog (.xml, .sql, .json, or .yaml) in your project directory and add a changeset.

XML example

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<databaseChangeLog
    xmlns="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog"
    xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
    xmlns:ext="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext"
    xmlns:pro="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro"
    xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-latest.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog-ext http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/dbchangelog/dbchangelog-ext.xsd
        http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro http://www.liquibase.org/xml/ns/pro/liquibase-pro-latest.xsd">
    <changeSet id="1" author="Liquibase">
    <createTable tableName="test_table">
           <column name="test_id" type="int">
                 <constraints primaryKey="true"/>
           </column>
           <column name="test_column" type="varchar"/>
    </createTable>
    </changeSet>
</databaseChangeLog>

SQL example

-- liquibase formatted sql

-- changeset liquibase:1
CREATE TABLE test_table (test_id INT, test_column VARCHAR(256), PRIMARY KEY (test_id))

Tip: Formatted SQL changelogs generated from Liquibase versions before 4.2 might cause issues because of the lack of space after a double dash ( -- ). To fix this, add a space after the double dash. For example: -- liquibase formatted sql instead of --liquibase formatted sql and -- changeset myname:create-table instead of --changeset myname:create-table

YAML example

databaseChangeLog:
   - changeSet:
       id: 1
       author: Liquibase
       changes:
       - createTable:
           columns:
           - column:
               name: test_column
               type: INT
               constraints:  
                   primaryKey:  true  
                   nullable:  false  
                   tableName: test_table

JSON example

{ 
  "databaseChangeLog": [
  {
	"changeSet": {
	  "id": "1",
      "author": "Liquibase",
	  "changes": [
	    {
		  "createTable": {
		    "columns": [
			{
			  "column": 
		      {
				"name": "test_column",
				"type": "INT",
				"constraints": 
			  {
				"primaryKey": true,
				"nullable": false
				}
				}
			  }]
			,
			"tableName": "test_table"
		  }
		}]
	  }
	}]
  }

Navigate to your project folder in the CLI and run the Liquibase status command to see whether the connection is successful:

liquibase status --username=test --password=test --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>

Note: You can pass arguments in the CLI or keep them in the Liquibase properties file.

Inspect the SQL with the update-sql command. Then make changes to your database with the update command.

liquibase update-sql --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>
liquibase update --changelog-file=<changelog.xml>

From a database UI tool, ensure that your database contains the test_table you added along with the DATABASECHANGELOG table and DATABASECHANGELOGLOCK table.

Using Liquibase with MSSQL

Supported versions

Prerequisites

Install drivers

Test your connection

Related links