how to connect to a remote server through R?

Question

I'm trying to connect to the server through the SQLite package but can't find the right spelling of database credentials anywhere. Actually I have MySQL and PostgreSQL bases on the server and I found a way to connect to a PostgreSQL it sounds like this:

drv <- dbDriver('PostgreSQL')
con <- dbConnect(drv, dbname='...', user='...',
password='...', host='...', port=...)

but if I change the driver to ('SQLite') and the database credentials, it shows me:

Error in sqliteNewConnection(drv, ...) :
unused arguments (user = ......blablabla

Does anybody knows what the right arguments for MySQL database connection are?

Answer 1

Looks like you are mixing things up here. You'll need RMySQL to connect to a MySQL database. MySQL is Oracle's light (and free) version of a relational DBMS. SQLite is something different. That being said, if you got the choice, go with PostgreSQL if it's meant to stay, otherwise SQLite might be ok for some testing. R and PostgreSQL really work well together.

Ah, and note that there was NO windows binary of RMySQL on CRAN when I wrote this. SO if you are on Windows and want to use R with MySQL you gotta compile the package. With the right R setup it should just be a matter of install.packages('RMySQL',type='source').

If you are not ready to compile on your own RODBC might also work for you.