[R]Running R remotely in Windows Environment? Thanks!

[Jim Porzak]

Thanks to Prof Ripley, Arne, Andy & Bill for unambiguous suggestions!
Linux box is on order.
I'll take notes on our experience & post a follow-up
in a few weeks. May be useful to other folks stuck in the Windows world.

-Jim

At 06:24 AM 1/29/2004, Pikounis, Bill wrote:
>Jim,
>I would really like to reiterate Professor Ripley's and Arne Henningsen
>comments. The problem goes for any analytic software or system you might
>want to use, not just R. My impression is that at least for part of it, you
>want the individual users to use R as they would on their own desktops.  (If
>that is not the case, much of the rest of this note is pure FYI.) Even in
>its most advanced 2003 Server edition, Windows is simply not designed to be
>a multi-user system.  Sure, it can reliably host a web server that may need
>to run quick bursts of R batch-type jobs ("analytics") and return results to
>a client (e.g. web browser), but that does not sound like what you are
>looking for (at least in part). And beyond the technical limitations, use of
>Windows Terminal Server (Remote Desktop) / Citrix, etc. will cost much money
>and implementation hassle and probably even legal headaches.  We have had
>colleagues here at Merck (over my and Andy Liaw's disbelief) that have tried
>to shoehorn Windows this way, and even the speed of single, small jobs by 1
>logged-on took longer on the server than on their much less powerful
>laptops.
>
>A Linux solution is very flexible, in our experiences (we have Windows XP as
>corporate desktop standard).  As stated, with Samba, you can map directories
>that look like just another drive in Windows Explorer.  Printing is just as
>transparent in either direction.  VNC (Virtual Network Computing) is very,
>very nice to provide the individual user's Linux environment as just another
>window on their Windows desktop. With the free utility of "autocutsel",
>clipboards can be synchronized for ease of cutting and pasting. And KDE, one
>of several window manager analogues to Windows, is very sophisticated and
>shares a lot in common with the Windows GUI from a user operations
>standpoint. While it may sound like a hassle to get up and running now if
>your shop is currently "99% Windows", the benefit will absolutely be clear
>later.
>
>Hope that helps,
>Bill
>----------------------------------------
>Bill Pikounis, Ph.D.
>
>Biometrics Research Department
>Merck Research Laboratories
>PO Box 2000, MailDrop RY33-300
>126 E. Lincoln Avenue
>Rahway, New Jersey 07065-0900
>USA
>
>Phone: 732 594 3913
>Fax: 732 594 1565
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > [mailto:r-help-bounces at stat.math.ethz.ch] On Behalf Of Arne Henningsen
> > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2004 3:45 AM
> > To: Jim Porzak
> > Cc: r-help at stat.math.ethz.ch
> > Subject: Re: [R]Running R remotely in Windows Environment?
> >
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > I also suggest to use a Linux Server. You can work on this
> > machine via ssh
> > (e.g. with PuTTY) and transfer the input and output files
> > with scp or a samba
> > server (which is easy to install and very convenient to use
> > for windows
> > users).
> >
> > Arne
> >
> > On Thursday 29 January 2004 08:53, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
> > > On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Jim Porzak wrote:
> > > > We are considering setting up a fast, RAM loaded machine
> > as an "R-server"
> > > > to handle the big problems not suitable for individual
> > desktops and,
> > > > also, to process ad hoc analysis requests via our portal.
> > We are 99% a
> > > > Windows shop, so first choice is a windows server. We'll
> > use (D)COM for
> > > > the portal interface and understand that.
> > > >
> > > > What has me stumped is how to easily interface individual
> > analyst's
> > > > Windows desktops to the R-server. I haven't seen anything in the
> > > > archives, but I can't imagine this hasn't been done. What
> > am I missing?
> > >
> > > R is not designed to be client-server on Windows.  People I
> > know who do
> > > this use Windows Terminal Server or Citrix.
> > >
> > > I would question the value of this approach.  Unless you
> > propose to run
> > > 64-bit Windows, a `RAM loaded' machine isn't `loaded', and
> > R under Windows
> > > handles large amounts of memory much less effectively than
> > under Linux.
> > > 64-bit Windows is uncharted territory for R, whereas 64-bit
> > Unix/Linux is
> > > well trodden.
> >
> > --
> > Arne Henningsen
> > Department of Agricultural Economics
> > University of Kiel
> > Olshausenstr. 40
> > D-24098 Kiel (Germany)
> > Tel: +49-431-880 4445
> > Fax: +49-431-880 1397
> > ahenningsen at agric-econ.uni-kiel.de
> > http://www.uni-kiel.de/agrarpol/ahenningsen/
> >
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> >
>
>
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