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Introduction

This blog post will guide you through the process of setting up a FHIR server using Microsoft's FHIR server image and connecting it to a locally running SQL Server instance, all within a Podman container environment.

Prerequisites

• Podman installed on your system
• A running SQL Server instance with a FHIR database created

Create a Podman Machine

To provide a dedicated environment for your FHIR server, create a Podman machine:

podman machine init --name podman-machine --cpus 4 --memory 2GB --disk-size 100GB

Replace the resource settings (--cpus, --memory, --disk-size) according to your system's capabilities and requirements.

Run the FHIR Server

Start the FHIR server container and connect it to your SQL Server database:

podman run --name my-fhir-server -e DATABASE_HOST=<your_host> -e DATABASE_PORT=<your_port> \
          -e DATABASE_NAME=FHIR -e DATABASE_USERNAME=<your_username> \
          -e DATABASE_PASSWORD=<your_password> microsoft/fhir-server

Replace the placeholders with your SQL Server's host, port, database name, username, and password.

Explanation

• --name my-fhir-server: Assigns a name to the container for easy management.
• -e DATABASE_*: Sets environment variables to configure the FHIR server's connection to the SQL Server database.

Additional Considerations

• Persistence: If you want to persist data beyond the container's lifetime, consider using a volume or a persistent volume claim.
• Security: Implement appropriate security measures, such as network isolation and access control, to protect your FHIR server and database.
• Configuration: Explore the FHIR server's configuration options to customize its behavior and features.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you've successfully set up a FHIR server using Microsoft's image and connected it to a SQL Server database within a Podman container environment. This provides a flexible and isolated way to manage your FHIR server and its dependencies.