Starting in SQL Server 2016 a new service started showing up. It was the SQL Server Launchpad service. If you have ever wondered about it, I will explain what it is and why it exists.
According to Microsoft Docs (https://bit.ly/2Myg5Ph) “The SQL Server Launchpad is a service that
manages and executes external scripts, similar to the way that the full-text
indexing and query service launches a separate host for processing full-text
queries.”
There, that explains everything. No?
OK, to quote Inigo Montoya, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.” The Launchpad runs as an external service in
order to handle the native capabilities of SQL to execute R or Python scripts. When you make a call to R or Python in SQL
Server, it does not run internally like a T-SQL call would. Instead, it makes a call to the Launchpad service
and that service runs the R or Python script.
Certainly, it appears as if SQL Server runs the script, and
it really does; it just assigns that task to the Launchpad service.
Some asides
In SQL 2016, you needed to install R Services on Windows in
order to execute R scripts in the database engine. Starting in SQL 2017, it was simply an
install time choice. (Of course you
could add the feature after the fact.)
In SQL 2017 and forward, you simply chose to install SQL Server
Machine Learning Services.
The link I gave you above, describes how to configure the Launchpad
service. On the other hand, if you are
not using Machine Learning, you can simply ignore it.
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