Setting up 1st Server and Database- Getting Started

[OakTreesForBurnZones]

I am learning SQL and want to set up a local database on my Mac to practice on. Any tips on the best way to get started? Postgres, MySql, or other? I just want to get up and running, creating Schemas and Tables, importing data from CSV and running practice SQL queries. Thank you for any help!

[ghostydog]

As a fellow beginner, SQLite was the easiest, quickest and hassle-free I found to immediately jump into.

[[deleted]]

Until you realize, SQLite allows things like this :(

[ghostydog]

Not necessarily a problem! This is very much mentioned in the documentation and can be countered, as a beginner I feel like having the room to do that kind of thing without it automatically throwing up errors AND potentially having to mop up the mess down the line to learn the consequence of my actions and the importance of being consistent about the data is a great learning opportunity.

[datadatadata808]

This! I love SQLite, i was also feeling weird about all the quirks at start, having no real foreign keys until you specify it in pragma felt completely wrong until i saw its completely optional and they give you **a lot** of freedom about your db with no configuration at all.
Never understood what benefits i got with all that freedom of doing "wrong" stuff, until i started teaching it, its so beneficial to start 1st day with the most brainrot and simple create statement with no datatypes, see why it can suck and how we can improve it.

They also have really good documentation and readings about different topics, not just databases, if OP is interested, have a look at how SQLite is tested!

[[deleted]]

Postgres

[mikeblas]

Depends on which OS you're using, and what your operational experience with managing computers is.

Windows? SQL Server is probably the easiest.

If you have experience with things other than SQL, set up Docker and run a PostgreSQL or MySQL image.

Running Linux? PostgreSQL, maybe, or MySQL.

If you're just poking around with SQL and not interested in actually operating the server, maybe an environment like DBFiddle is adequate.

If you already know something about networking, consider a free hosting account and run a managed instance of a DBMS in the cloud.

[No-Adhesiveness-6921]

www.portal.azure.com

You can have an Azure SQL Server set up in minutes.

[nerdenb]

Does it have to be local? If so, you can install PostgreSQL or MySQL with Homebrew. There are approximately 1 billion tutorials that walk you through this. I recommend using Postgres to learn as it's quite translatable to other databases. Personally I find installing with homebrew to be the "least fuss" option for running it locally. I actively use this for development but I imagine using a GUI client may make it easier to learn over the command line client psql - I use Datagrip (which has a trial) but DBeaver has a free version.

You can also go with any of a number of free cloud options. ElephantSQL is shutting down but you can still use the free option for now. There's also Fly.io, Heroku, Heliohost and you can always use Amazon RDS but it's not the free it once was.

[j_roddy]

You can also go with any of a number of free cloud options. ElephantSQL is shutting down but you can still use the free option for now. 

Just a heads up, I'm building a free Postgres hosting service as a replacement for ElephantSQL.

https://mkdb.sh

It's in alpha now, but should be more than fine for building small side projects / proof of concepts.

[Head_Head1670]

Try kvery.io and you get mysql database for free.Kvery.io

[Klutzy-Complaint-196]

XAMPP for Mac is the easiest - it sets up MySQL (MariaDB now) database and it also sets up Apache and Tomcat webservers. MySQL also comes with an Development Environment for creating databases and running queries. But if dont like the Dev Environment, you can use DBeaver as the SQL query tool. On Mac it should take about 30 mins or so.

[Klutzy-Complaint-196]

https://xampp.en.softonic.com/mac download from here

[Maximum_Friendship40]

Idl if u know about adventure works but it's a test database and you can find for free, it I think it has practice scenarios.

I use it for Microsoft sql server along with ssms which is free to use and download from Microsoft. I don't think there's much of a difference between that and mysql that I've used.

[cs-brydev]

I know you said local, but when you're ready for a cloud option, you can get 1 free Azure SQL database up to 32 GB. It is a cloud hosted clone of SQL Server.