Close menu

SQL/R Installation on Windows
Version A.03.21 or newer

This document contains installation instructions specific to the Windows platform for SQL/R version A.03.21 or newer.

Please refer to the previous Windows installation instructions for SQL/R version A.03.20 or older.

Please refer to the Installation document in the SQL/R release notes for information which is not Windows specific.

Supported Windows versions

SQL/R is available for 32-bit (x86) and 64-bit (x64) Windows.

Required minimum Windows version:

32-bit and 64-bit Windows versions are supported. On 64-bit Windows, both the 32-bit and the 64-bit ODBC drivers are installed.

Installation directory

The default installation directory is "Program Files\Marxmeier\SQLR" ("Program Files (x86)\Marxmeier\SQLR" on 64-bit Windows).

Installed subdirectories

bin
Binary files and shared libraries
etc
Configuration files
(new SQL/R configuration template files are installed in the newconfig\config subdirectory)
lib
Related files
newconfig\config
New SQL/R configuration template files
(template files are copied to the etc directory if not present, the sqlrodbc.ini ODBC driver configuration file is copied to the Windows directory, %WINDIR%, default: C:\Windows\sqlrodbc.ini)
share
Documentation, tutorial, example database

System requirements

A default SQL/R installation requires disk space as indicated below:

32-bit Windows (x86)
"C:\Program Files" less than 3 MB

64-bit Windows (x64)
"C:\Program Files (x86)" less than 3 MB

Note that SQL/R must be installed to a local disk (not a network drive) because some binaries are registered with Windows and may be required even if the network storage is not available.

Prerequisites

SQL/R requires the Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 runtime libraries, available for download on the Marxmeier web site at: https://www.marxmeier.com/download/sqlr/A0300/windows/vc/

vcredist_x86.exe
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x86)
Minimum version: 14.0.24210 (Update 3)
Required on any system where SQL/R is installed.
vcredist_x64.exe
Microsoft Visual C++ 2015 Redistributable (x64)
Minimum version: 14.0.24210 (Update 3)
Required in addition on 64-bit Windows if the ODBC driver is installed.

License note

SQL/R A.03.XX requires a license key version A.03.00 or above. For a new SQL/R installation or when upgrading from SQL/R before version A.03.00 a new license key must be obtained to use the SQL/R server.

The installation program by default grants a 30 days temporary license if SQL/R A.03.XX is installed for the first time. This option may be disabled in the Custom Setup dialog if a temporary license is not needed.

To request a permanent license key, please contact sales@marxmeier.com.

The SQL/R software id (SWID) necessary to request a license key may be obtained using the gethwid utility. The installed license keys may be verified using the chklic utility.

It is necessary to install SQL/R to use these utilities. They are located in the SQL/R etc installation subdirectory, by default:

32-bit Windows
C:\Program Files\Marxmeier\SQLR\etc\gethwid
C:\Program Files\Marxmeier\SQLR\etc\chklic
64-bit Windows
C:\Program Files (x86)\Marxmeier\SQLR\etc\gethwid
C:\Program Files (x86)\Marxmeier\SQLR\etc\chklic

Updating a previous SQL/R installation

Updating a previous SQL/R installation will retain the configuration files.

Installation instructions

To install SQL/R, administrative privileges are required. Windows versions starting with Windows Vista will automatically request administrative privileges.

In the Destination Folder dialog the default installation directory may be confirmed or modified.

In the Custom Setup dialog, the SQL/R component categories may be selectively enabled or disabled for installation.

You may later use the installation program in Modify maintenance mode to modify the selection at any time.

SQL/R ODBC Driver
Selecting this category installs the SQL/R ODBC driver. On 64-bit (x64) Windows, both the 32-bit and the 64-bit ODBC drivers are installed.

SQL/R Server
Selecting this category installs the SQL/R server.

Temporary SQL/R Server License
This option is available if an SQL/R A.03.XX temporary license was not yet installed on this system. If selected, a 30 days temporary license is granted. The generated temporary license keys are added to the license file located in the SQL/R etc directory.

As long as the temporary license was not yet installed on the system you may later choose to install it by starting the installation program in Modify maintenance mode.

SQL/R Client Components
Selecting this category installs the sqlrexec and SQL.DLL components.

Tutorial and example database (available in English and German language)
This installs the sqlrexec tutorial and example database for the selected language.

Accessing SQL/R configuration files

On Windows versions starting with Windows Vista, a local group named "SQLR Administrators" is created which has modify/delete permissions on the SQL/R etc configuration directory and files.

The installing user is automatically made a member of this group.

After the installation has finished, it may be necessary to log off and log on again to activate this new group membership and also to activate the modified PATH environment variable where the SQL/R bin directory was added.

To add other users to the "SQLR Administrators" group:

  1. Open the Computer Management Console

    From the Start Menu, navigate to:
    Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Computer Management

    Alternatively, from the Start Menu, open:
    All Programs » Accessories » Run
    Then enter "compmgmt.msc" and click OK.

  2. In the left pane, choose
      Local Users and Groups » Groups

  3. In the right pane, locate the "SQLR Administrators" group and open its properties with a doubleclick. The properties dialog allows to change the group's list of members.

Users added to the "SQLR Administrators" group may need to log off and log on again to activate this new group membership.

32-bit and 64-bit ODBC drivers

On 64-bit Windows, choosing to install the SQL/R ODBC driver installs both the 32-bit and the 64-bit ODBC drivers.

The sqlro32.dll (32-bit) and sqlro64.dll (64-bit) ODBC driver DLLs are installed to the SQL/R bin directory.

32-bit programs use the 32-bit ODBC driver. 64-bit programs use the 64-bit ODBC driver.

Please note: 64-bit Windows has separate ODBC control panels for 32-bit and 64-bit ODBC drivers and data sources.

Configuring the SQL/R Server service

The SQL/R Server service is configured using the Windows Services control panel.

From the Start Menu, navigate to:
Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Services

Alternatively, from the Start Menu, open:
All Programs » Accessories » Run
Then enter "services.msc" and click OK.

Select the SQLRODBC entry in the list and open the Properties dialog, either from the menu or using the context menu (right mouse button):

Along with the Startup Options, additional arguments for the SQL/R Server may be specified. This is usually neither required nor recommended since all settings are normally provided in the odbc.cfg configuration file. However, this option may be useful in some cases, for example, starting the SQL/R Server temporarily with different log options.

Supported arguments are:

Option Description Equiv.*
-d flags Specifies the server debugging log flags. LogFlags
-l name Specifies the server log file. LogFile
-s name The service name (as defined in the SERVICES file) or the port number where the server should listen for requests. The default value is sqlrodbc. Service
-h name To enable the HTTP status display feature of the server this option may be used to specify the service name or port number where the server should listen for HTTP requests. HttpService
(* equivalent configuration file directive)

For example, to specify a different TCP service name (the default is "sqlrodbc"), you could enter the following into the Startup Parameters field: 

-s 8567

This will make the SQL/R Server listen to the TCP/IP port number 8567.

Please note: The Startup Parameters are persistently saved when the Start button is clicked. To reset, clear the Startup Parameters, then restart the SQL/R Server.

At this point, everything is configured and the SQL/R Server can be started:

Unless a log file is specified, the SQL/R Server will write log messages to the Windows Event Log. In case the SQL/R Server does not start the Event Log should provide an error message pointing out the cause of the problem.

From the Start Menu, navigate to:
Control Panel » Administrative Tools » Event Viewer

Alternatively, from the Start Menu, open:
All Programs » Accessories » Run
Then enter "eventvwr.msc" and click OK.

In the Event Viewer, select Windows Logs » Application. The SQL/R server messages are labeled "SQLRODBC" in the Source column.

Starting and stopping the SQL/R Server

The net start and net stop system commands may be used to start and stop the SQL/R Server from the command line. This is equivalent to starting and stopping the server using the Windows Services control panel as explained in the previous section.

Command syntax: 

net start SQLRODBC
net stop sqlrodbc
(The service name is not case sensitive.)

The SQL/R Server HTTP status display

When the HttpService is defined in the odbc.cfg configuration file, a web browser may be used to view the configuration and current use of the SQL/R Server process in your network.

To access the SQL/R Server, you provide an URL like this: 

http://server:port/

where server is the host name or IP address of the system running the SQL/R Server and port is the port number used for HttpService in the odbc.cfg configuration file.

Find an example of these http status pages for SQL/R here.

The SQL/R Example Database

The SQL/R example database may be installed by selecting the "Tutorial and example database" option in the Custom Setup dialog (available in English and German language).

Use the steps below to create and import it to Eloquence:

Create and import the example database (named DB) to Eloquence: 

schema db.schema
dbimport -vs db.exp db

Configure a data source in the odbc.dsn configuration file:

For the English version: 

[SQL/R Example]
Database=localhost:eloqdb/db
Repository=C:/Programs/Marxmeier/SQLR/share/db.e/db.rep

For the German version: 

[SQL/R Example]
Database=localhost:eloqdb/db
Repository=C:/Programs/Marxmeier/SQLR/share/db.g/db.rep

Automated SQL/R installation (silent install)

SQL/R can be installed silently using the command below: 
SQLR-A0334-3-win32.exe /s /v"/q INSTALLLEVEL=100"
The /s command line switch causes a silent installation. The quoting after /v is important.

To silently uninstall, use the /x command line switch: 
SQLR-A0334-3-win32.exe /x /s
Available command line options are output with: 
SQLR-A0334-3-win32.exe /?
Available MsiExec command line options (as used in double-quotes after the /v command line switch above) are output with: 
msiexec /?
Please note that, depending on your operating system version you may need to install Microsoft Runtime packages in addition (vcredist_x86.exe and/or vcredist_x64.exe).

These are available in the SQL/R download directory. To install silently, use the commands below: 

vcredist_x86.exe /install /quiet /norestart
vcredist_x64.exe /install /quiet /norestart
Nothing happens if these packages are already installed. Available command line options are output with: 
vcredist_x86.exe /?

Changes to previous SQL/R versions

The new SQL/R configuration template files are installed in the newconfig\config subdirectory.

Previous SQL/R versions installed them as .sam files in the etc subdirectory. The sqlrodbc.ini ODBC driver configuration template file was installed as sqlrodbc.sam in the Windows directory.