Can a perl installation on a linux/unix machine query a MS SQL Server
database?  What does Perl and or the linux/unix system need if that
ability isn't built-in?

keshar,

Thank you for your question.  By far the most recommended method of
accessing a database via Perl is through the DBI module.  Using the
DBD::ODBC connectivity, you can not only make queries to an MS SQL
Server, your code also becomes almost completely portable, meaning
that even if you move your database to another OS or another platform,
your Perl code will require little to no modification to make the
migration.  For more information, check the documentation offered on
CPAN and the DBI Homepage.

For other options available to you besides the DBI module, this site
discusses many of the other alternatives, along with their pros and
cons:  http://www.algonet.se/~sommar/mssql/alternatives.html

Sites Cited:
  CPAN
  http://www.cpan.org

  DBI Homepage
  http://dbi.perl.org/

  MSSQL:Dlib and MSSQL:Sqllib
  http://www.algonet.se/~sommar/mssql/

Google search strategy:
  DBI Perl "SQL Server"

The short answer to your question is "Yes."

Here is an example of a Perl script (notice the .pl extension)
querying a MYSQL database running on a Linux (Debian) machine.  I'm
not a programmer, so I can't really answer specifics, but I know it
can be done.

http://www.respree.com/cgi-bin/pdbwrap.pl?+Keywords=monet