# Installing drivers

## MS SQL drivers for OSX-based systems

When reading data from Microsoft SQL (MS SQL) server, users of Unix-based systems need to install a MS ODBC driver that is compatible with the version of their target server. For example, ODBC Driver 17 is compatible with SQL server 2019, version 15.0.

After choosing the appropriate driver, open the terminal, and run these instructions to install the MS SQL ODBC driver on Mac.

1. installation of MS SQL driver 17 on Mac

    driver=17
    brew install unixodbc
    brew tap microsoft/mssql-release https://github.com/Microsoft/homebrew-mssql-release
    brew update
    brew install msodbcsql${driver}
    brew install mssql-tools
    ODBCSYSINI=/

2. installation of MS SQL driver 13.1 on Mac

    brew install unixodbc
    brew tap microsoft/mssql-release https://github.com/Microsoft/homebrew-mssql-release
    brew update
    brew install msodbcsql@13.1.9.2
    brew install mssql-tools@14.0.6.0
    ODBCSYSINI=/

## MS SQL drivers for Linux-based systems

Note that this requires Ubuntu 16.04 and above. Choose the appropriate driver, open the terminal and type the instructions below:

1. installation of MS SQL driver version 17 on `Ubuntu`

    driver=17
    sudo su
    curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | apt-key add -
    curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/$(lsb_release -rs)/prod.list > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-release.list
    exit

    sudo apt-get update
    sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql${driver}
    sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y mssql-tools
    echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc
    source ~/.bashrc
    sudo apt-get install -y unixodbc-dev

2. installation of MS SQL driver version 13.1 on `Ubuntu`

    sudo su
    curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | apt-key add -
    curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/prod.list > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-release.list
    exit
    sudo apt-get update
    sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install msodbcsql
    sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install mssql-tools
    echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/opt/mssql-tools/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc
    source ~/.bashrc
    sudo apt-get install unixodbc-dev

3. installation of MS SQL driver on other Linux distributions

To install an MS SQL driver for other Linux distributions, such as Debian and Fedora, click here and follow the instructions. After the installation, check the installed drivers using:

    odbc::odbcListDrivers()

If this command does not return the list of installed drivers or if you are facing issues during the driver installation process, consult the odbc github page or the MS documentation on this topic.

It is also important to view the data stored in the MS SQL server. For that purpose, we recommend you to install a graphical user interface (GUI) such as `Azure Data Studio`.