SQL Server can't do affinity on Docker

We want to use limited license on docker.
But, there is no option to add affinity as a start up parameter.

We all know, SQL affinity or soft numa can adjust after start up.
However, we need restart SQL server in many cases to settle.
Docker nature, once PID=1 is down, Pods destroyed.

So, if SQL server has option to adjust affinity mask or soft numa as a startup parameter, it would be easier to setup with proper licensing cost.

The other problem of Express edition, by default, it run on Socket 0 processor.
Depends core count of socket, it could be CPU0 upto CPU3.
And, it only shows "NumaNode0"- CPU0 to CPU3 only.
There is no option to move NumaNode1 even if we can restart it.

The issue is, it always spin up CPU0. So that, it is very hard to make an orchestration.
In the Kubernetes environment, container can see all host CPU.
But, by default, express edition only spin up from CPU0 - CPU3 only.
As a Kubernetes nature, this is a big issue if we run 2-3 SQL pods runs on same worker node, it only spin up first 4 CPU.
And, there is no option to change affinity on K8s.

Somehow, if we can add affinity, that is not resolve all issues.
SQL server supported to pick smart enough lower CPUs only based on total licensed processors.
Otherwise, no one will move to Docker containers.

i.e
Let say we have 1 Kubernetes worker nodes with 32 core each.
As a starting point on container, we move on only some small read only databases which is only required 4 cores with 6 replica.
It will compete each other to get cpu 0-4 only if it runs same worker nodes.

These days, no one want to assign affinity. Most likely it is not required.

Conclusion, please provide start up option for SQL server with licensed core count.
Plus, SQL server could pick up cpu core(s) randomly or smart enough to pick low utilize one up to licensed core count.

Here is my suggestion
i.e. /opt/mssql/bin/sqlservr --corecount=4 --affinity=[random(default), auto, 4 to 7 or, 1, 3, 5, 7 ]

[banerjeeamit]

Thank you for the feedback. We will look into how affinity can be adjusted for containers in the future. However, I want to point out that affinity setting will not be beneficial for SQL Server licensing. SQL Server licensing doesn't allow you to change the number of cores you license based on affinity setting of the SQL Server instance. Please see product use rights and your licensing guide for more information.

Reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sql-server/sql-server-2017-pricing

If you have specific licensing questions related to your contract, I would recommend getting in touch with your Microsoft Licensing specialist.

Thank you for the correction about licensing. I misunderstand affinity and licensing relation properly.

I wish to update a little more.
This is the only option I can do affinity as a Docker command. But, K8s seems not able to control it as I know.

docker run -e 'ACCEPT_EULA=Y' -e 'SA_PASSWORD=P@ssw0rd123' -e 'MSSQL_PID=Express' -p 4333:1433 -it --cpuset-cpus=3 mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server /opt/mssql/bin/sqlservr

[banerjeeamit]

Thank you for the feedback. We are looking into how we can surface additional configuration options which can be leveraged while instantiating the container.

[PerWiklander]

Maybe related:

When running SQL Server 2017 in K8S with MSSQL_PID=Express I would like it to use the 4 VCPU cores that are available to it.

But SQL Server sees the world like this:
"SQL Server detected 4 sockets with 1 cores per socket and 1 logical processors per socket, 4 total logical processors; using 1 logical processors based on SQL Server licensing."

Is it possible to make it see this as 1 socket with 4 cores?

This all feels like licensing semantics to me, but as I understand it, the licens would allow it to use 4 cores if I ran it on a single socket hardware CPU.