R Install on SQL Server

Hello Dev! Welcome to this journal article which will discuss the process of installing R on SQL Server. R is a powerful and popular language for statistical computing and graphics. SQL Server is a relational database management system that is widely used in enterprises. Combining R with SQL Server allows for advanced data analytics and insights. Let’s get started on the installation process!

Step 1: Pre-requisites

In order to install R on SQL Server, there are a few pre-requisites that must be met. Firstly, make sure that SQL Server is already installed on your system. Next, ensure that you have administrative privileges for the SQL Server instance you want to install R on. Additionally, download the latest version of R from the official website.

Once you have these requirements fulfilled, let’s move on to the actual installation process.

Step 2: Enabling R Services

The first step in the installation process is enabling R Services on SQL Server. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the instance you want to install R on.
2. Right-click on the instance and select ‘Facets’.
3. Select the ‘Surface Area Configuration’ facet and change the ‘R Services’ option to ‘True’.
4. Click ‘OK’ to save the changes.

Once R Services are enabled, we can proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Installing R Packages

In order to use R on SQL Server, we need to install the necessary R packages. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the instance you want to install R on.
2. Open a new query window and execute the following command:

“`EXEC sp_execute_external_script @language = N’R’,@script = N’install.packages(“package_name”)’,@input_data_1 = N”,@output_data_1 = N”;“`

Replace ‘package_name’ with the name of the package you want to install. Repeat this command for each package you want to install.

Once all the necessary packages are installed, we can move on to the next step.

Step 4: Using R with SQL Server

Now that R is installed and configured on SQL Server, we can start using it to analyze data. There are a few ways to do this:

Using T-SQL

We can use T-SQL to run R scripts on SQL Server. This can be done by following these steps:

1. Open SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the instance you want to use R on.
2. Open a new query window and execute the following command:

“`EXEC sp_execute_external_script @language = N’R’,@script = N’# R code goes here’,@input_data_1 = N”,@output_data_1 = N”;“`

Replace ‘# R code goes here’ with the R script you want to run. You can use T-SQL to pass data to the R script and retrieve the results.

Using R Tools for Visual Studio

We can also use R Tools for Visual Studio to develop and run R scripts on SQL Server. This is a more convenient and feature-rich way to work with R on SQL Server. Follow these steps to get started:

1. Download and install R Tools for Visual Studio from the official website.
2. Open Visual Studio and create a new ‘R Project’.
3. Connect to the SQL Server instance you want to work with and start writing R scripts.

You can use R Tools for Visual Studio to debug, test, and deploy your R scripts on SQL Server.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

That’s it, Dev! We hope this article has helped you understand how to install and use R on SQL Server. Happy coding!