Troubleshooting R Services Setup

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This topic provides answers to some common questions about installation of SQL Server R Services.

Changes in Setup

In SQL Server 2016 RC2, the process for setup has changed and you can install all related features, including the R components, by using the SQL Server Setup Wizard. You can also install the R packages and tools on a data science workstation (no SQL Server required) to connect to SQL Server 2016 and deploy R solutions.

If you have an early preview version of SQL Server 2016 and do not wish to upgrade, you can still install the R components used by the previous versions. For more information, see Installing Previous Versions of SQL Server R Services.

However, be sure to verify the build of SQL Server 2016 that you are running and choose a compatible version of the R components. For a compatibility chart, see Install R Packages and Providers for SQL Server R Services.

Setting up SQL Server R Services in an Azure Virtual Machine

If you install SQL Server 2016 on an Azure virtual machine by using one of the images that includes SQL Server 2016, some additional steps are needed.

  • The Advanced Analytics Extensions feature is not installed by default. Therefore, after you have created the virtual machine, you will need to re-run SQL Server setup, add the feature on the Server Configuration page of the wizard, and restart the SQL Server instance.

  • You will also need to make some additional changes to the firewall on the virtual machine, and verify that you can access the SQL Server instance from your data science client.

To add Advanced Analytics Extensions to the SQL Server instance

  1. Connect to the virtual machine

    After the virtual machine has been provisioned, use Remote Desktop to connect to the image. From the Azure portal, you can click CONNECT to get an RDP file to use in opening the connection. Provide the user name and password that you used when you created the virtual machine.

  2. Locate and then run the SQL Server setup utility

    The default location for the SQL Server setup utility is C:\SQLServer_13.0_Full. Double-click the Setup application to run the setup wizard.

  3. Add options needed for R Services

    In SQL Server Installation Center, click the Installation tab, and click New SQL Server standalone installation or add features to an existing installation. When the rules check completes, click Next.

    On the Installation Type page, determine whether you want to add R Services to the existing instance, or if you want to add a new instance just for R.

    • Add features to an existing instance of SQL Server 2016. Using the default instance is the easiest option to manage, particularly if you don't intend to make heavy use of most features, or if you are only using R integration and not the other features installed by default.

    • Perform a new installation of SQL Server 2016. We recommend this option if you intend to make heavy use of R, or if you want to keep R services and related logins in a separate instance.

      However, if you create a new instance, note the name of the instance. Later on you will have to specify the instance name for R configuration.

  4. Run the Setup wizard.

    Complete other selections for R Services as described in Installing R Services (In-Database). On the Ready to Install page, click Install to add the R Services components and complete setup.

  5. Enable R scripts

    When installation is complete, run the following statement on the SQL Server 2016 instance to enable external scripts, and restart the instance.

    sp_configure 'external scripts enabled',1'
reconfigure with override

  6. Unblock firewall

    If you have installed SQL Server 2016 on a Windows Azure virtual machine, you might not be able to use compute contexts that require use of the virtual machine's workspace. The reason is that, by default, the firewall on the Azure virtual machine includes a rule that blocks network access for local R user accounts.

    As a workaround, on the virtual machine, open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, select Outbound Rules, and disable the following rule:

    Block network access for R local user accounts in SQL Server instance MSSQLSERVER

  7. Install required network protocols

    Currently, SQL Server R Services uses the Named Pipes protocol for connections between the client and server computers. If Named Pipes is not enabled, you must install and enable it on both the client and server.

  8. Create database and logins used for R tasks

    It is not required that R code be run as administrator; however, depending on which packages you are using, your R user might need to create new tables, run SELECT statements, or delete (DROP) tables. Therefore, we recommend that you create a login that can be used for running R code, and assign it to the appropriate role in the database that stores your data, or in the database where you will store the results of your R jobs.

    The post-installation configuration script should create one login that you can use. However, if you want to create additional logins for specific tasks, and are new to SQL Server security, we recommend this article to better understand the relationship between users and logins, and how to assign permissions for individual databases.

    Basic SQL Server Security Concepts (MSDN)

  9. On the virtual machine, run the post-installation configuration steps as described here: Post-Installation Server Configuration (SQL Server R Services)

    Note

    If you installed two instances of SQL Server 2016 on the virtual machine, be sure to specify the instance includes the R extensions. If the instance is not the default instance, when you run the script to register the R extensions (in Step 3), use the syntax for registering a named instance.

     

Other Issues

See Also

SQL Server R Services Tutorials
SQL Server R Services Features and Tasks