I think you in this case, you should definitely try the VM route. Non-3d user interfaces, networking, etc should all work with no problems, MSSQL included. Do a prototype as soon as you're able, because that will answer most of your questions, and raise new ones as well.
To your second point, yes, I imagine that MSSQL could be exchanged to something else like Postgres, MariaDB or MySQL. Although, maybe you can get away with SQLite too, depending heavily on the use case of course.
To your second point, yes, I imagine that MSSQL could be exchanged to something else like Postgres, MariaDB or MySQL. Although, maybe you can get away with SQLite too, depending heavily on the use case of course.
Good luck!