We’re thrilled to share that adutil, the Active Directory Utility for SQL Server, is now officially supported on RHEL 9 and Ubuntu 22.04. If you’ve been waiting for this, your patience has paid off! Let’s dive into the details.

What Is adutil?

adutil is a powerful tool that simplifies Active Directory integration with SQL Server on Linux-based deployments. It enables seamless authentication, user management, and keytab configuration. Whether you’re running SQL Server on RHEL 9 or Ubuntu 22.04, you can now harness the full capabilities of adutil.

Getting Started

Join Your Host Machine to the Domain: Before diving into adutil, ensure that your host machine is part of the domain. Follow the steps outlined in our article: Join SQL Server on Linux to Active Directory – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn.

Installing adutil on RHEL 9: Execute the following commands to add the RHEL 9 Prod repository and install adutil:sudo curl -o /etc/yum.repos.d/msprod.repo https://packages.microsoft.com/config/rhel/9/prod.repo
## Now you are ready to install adutil using the command:
sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y yum install -y adutil
## you can check the adutil version using the command and ensure the version is 1.1.138
adutil –version

Installing adutil on Ubuntu 22.04: Follow these steps to add the repository and install adutil:## add the repo and required package signature
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.asc
curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/prod.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/msprod.list
## now update the repo and install adutil
sudo apt-get update
sudo ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y adutil

Explore adutil’s Features

Account Creation: Easily create and manage user accounts tied to Active Directory.
Keytab Configuration: Set up keytabs for secure authentication.
User Management: Handle user permissions and access.

For detailed guidance, refer to our comprehensive article: Introduction to adutil – Active Directory Utility – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn. 

Fun Fact: Ansible and adutil

Did you know that Ansible can simplify your SQL Server deployment? The Ansible-based SQL Server collection leverages adutil behind the scenes to enable AD authentication for SQL Server on Linux. Explore more in the Red Hat Hybrid Cloud Console documentation: Automation Hub – microsoft.sql | Ansible Automation Platform (redhat.com) and our official documentation: Quickstart: Deploy SQL Server on Linux using an Ansible playbook – SQL Server | Microsoft Learn

Get ready to enhance your SQL Server experience with adutil on RHEL 9 and Ubuntu 22.04!

Thanks,

Engineering Lead: Sreekumar V K

Engineering Team: Vaibhao Tatte, Dwaipayan Barman, Parameswara Reddy Bodeddula

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