Installing SQL Server Express LocalDB in a GitHub Workflow

In this post, let's see how you can install SQL Server Express LocalDB in GitHub Workflows. This is useful when you want to run integration tests in a Workflow. 

Technically you can use this approach anywhere as long as the Agent is Windows, as this is just a set of PowerShell commands.

name: Build and deploy
 
on:
  push:
    branches:
      - main
  workflow_dispatch:
 
jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: windows-latest
 
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
 
      - ...
 
      - name: Install MSSQLLocalDB
        run: |
            Import-Module BitsTransfer
            Start-BitsTransfer `
               -Source https://download.microsoft.com/download/3/8/d/38de7036-2433-4207-8eae-06e247e17b25/SqlLocalDB.msi `
               -Destination SqlLocalDB.msi
            Start-Process `
               -FilePath "SqlLocalDB.msi" `
               -ArgumentList "/qn", "/norestart", "/l*v SqlLocalDBInstall.log", "IACCEPTSQLLOCALDBLICENSETERMS=YES"; `
               -Wait
            sqlcmd -l 60 -S "(LocalDb)\MSSQLLocalDB" -Q "SELECT @@VERSION;"

First, we are importing the BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Management) module, and downloading the  SqlLocalDB.msi. Then we are doing a silent install and the last command is to test the connectivity to the instance.

The specified link for SqlLocalDB.msi is for SQL Server 2022. If you want to use SQL Server 2019, you can this link: https://download.microsoft.com/download/7/c/1/7c14e92e-bdcb-4f89-b7cf-93543e7112d1/SqlLocalDB.msi

Hope this helps.

Happy Coding.

Regards,
Jaliya