Use port forwarding to access SQL Server running in Kubernetes

A really handy feature in Kubernetes is port forwarding. This can be used to narrow down an issue when connections are failing to SQL Server running in a cluster.

Say we have deployed the following to a Kubernetes cluster: –

apiVersion: apps/v1beta1
kind: Deployment
metadata:
  name: sqlserver
spec:
  replicas: 1
  template:
    metadata:
      labels:
        name: sqlserver
    spec:
      containers:
      - name: sqlserver1
        image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2019-RC1-ubuntu
        ports:
        - containerPort: 1433
        env:
        - name: SA_PASSWORD
          value: "Testing1122"
        - name: ACCEPT_EULA
          value: "Y"
---
apiVersion: v1
kind: Service
metadata:
  name: sqlserver-service
spec:
  ports:
  - name: sqlserver
    port: 1433
    targetPort: 1433
  selector:
    name: sqlserver
  type: LoadBalancer

This will create the following in the Kubernetes cluster: –

The load balanced service’s IP can be usually be used to connect into the SQL instance running in the pod, but what if we’re unable to connect? Does the issue lie with the service or the pod?

In order to narrow this down, port forwarding can be used to directly connect to the pod: –

kubectl port-forward pod/sqlserver-889b56d7b-nb2b4 15789:1433

This will allow us to use 127.0.0.1,15789 (localhost won’t work) and connect from our local machine to the pod running in the Kubernetes cluster (in a separate window): –

mssql-cli -S 127.0.0.1,15789 -U sa

We can use the same port to connect via ADS and SSMS as well: –

If a connection can be established to the pod via the forwarded port then we know that the issue doesn’t lie with the pod but with the service or the connection from the service to the pod.

Thanks for reading!

7 thoughts on “Use port forwarding to access SQL Server running in Kubernetes”

Thanks for the post. Could you please explain how did you find out the port number 15789 for localhost. I’m trying to connect from SSMS on my local machine(laptop) to a pod in kubernetes and im not able to do it..

dbafromthecold

Oct 14, 2019 at 10:15 am

I picked port 15789 at random and set it in
kubectl port-forward pod/sqlserver-889b56d7b-nb2b4 15789:1433

That maps port 15789 to port 1433 in the pod, so that I can connect to SQL Server running within it.

I picked 15789 at random as I just need a port locally that’s not in use

Reply
- kevin
  
  Oct 14, 2019 at 1:32 pm
  
  Thanks for the quick response..
  I tried the port forward and tried to connect to pod from my SSMS on my laptop, it errors out with following error message..however im able to connect with Loadbalancer IP from SSMS. I tried netstat -aon and choose a free port which is not being used by any process..Could you please check…
  
  Commands :
  kubectl port-forward pod/mssql-deployment-74dfcbb496-7x5qx 60669:1433
  Forwarding from 127.0.0.1:60669 -> 1433
  Forwarding from [::1]:60669 -> 1433
  
  Error:
  TITLE: Connect to Server
  ——————————
  
  Cannot connect to 127.0.0.1,60669.
  
  A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 – The wait operation timed out.) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 258)
- dbafromthecold
  
  Oct 14, 2019 at 1:57 pm
  
  Did you leave the port forwarding command running whilst trying to connect in SSMS?
- kevin
  
  Oct 15, 2019 at 2:49 am
  
  yes it was running while I was trying to connect from SSMS..
- dbafromthecold
  
  Oct 15, 2019 at 10:01 am
  
  Can you ping me an email to dbafromthecold@gmail.com? And we’ll get to the bottom of why you can’t connect. Thanks.