| Administration and Configuration > Setup and Configuration > Requirements for On-Premise Deployments > R Requirements |
To use the R engine, you must enable the engine and have R installed on the target computer. You can install R yourself or let Setup install it for you. If you choose not to install R during setup, you can install it after and then enable the R engine on the PredixionAdmin intranet portal. Similarly, if you chose not to enable the R engine during setup, you can enable it on PredixionAdmin. For more information see, Managing Server Configurations.
A SQL Server database is required. You cannot use SQL Server versions earlier than SQL Server 2008, but in contrast to the SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) analytical engine, you can use SQL Server Express editions with the R engine.
The target computer must also meet the overall requirements for Predixion Insight™. For more information, see Requirements.
During setup, you can choose a default or custom installation.
When you choose the default installation you will have at least one analytic engine, SSAS or R, installed, enabled and ready to use after you complete Setup without making further setup selection.
Setup looks for R on the target computer. If R is found and it is version 3.0.1 or later, Setup does not install R. If R is not found, Setup installs the latest version of R. In both cases, R is enabled.
When you choose the custom installation, you can set the following options for the R engine:
You can use any R version later than 3.0.1. If you have it or a later version installed, that version is listed in Use Existing (<R version>). For example, Use Existing (3.1.2). If the installed R version is not 3.0.1 or later, the Use Existing option is not available.
R supports side-by-side installation of different versions of R. If multiple versions are installed, at least one of them must be 3.0.1 or later. Predixion Insight will use the version that R identifies as the latest of the installed versions.
If you want to use a version of R that is earlier that the version installed by Predxion Insight Setup, contact [email protected] and a support engineer will help you set this up.
R packages for different R versions might have the same name although their contents are not identical. This means the packages are not interchangeable and you might need a specific version of R to use an R package. For example the Text Analytics Walkthrough requires R 3.1 or later.
The earliest R version (3.0.1) supported by Predixion Insight still works and there are no upgrade tasks for R.However, if you want to use a different version of R, you can. Just download it and install it.
You can download R from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
SQL Server requirements vary depending on the analytic engines you want to use. If you plan to use only the R engine, you can use SQL Server 2008 or later, including SQL Server Express.
If you prefer, you can install R and SQL Server 2012 Express or SQL Server 2014 Express yourself before you run Setup.