Extending Relational Query Processing with ML Inference.

The broadening adoption of machine learning in the enterprise is increasing the pressure for strict governance and cost-effective performance, in particular for the common and consequential steps of model storage and inference. The RDBMS provides a natural starting point, given its mature infrastructure for fast data access and processing, along with support for enterprise features, such as encryption, auditing, and high-availability. To take advantage of all of the above, we need to address a key concern: Can in-RDBMS scoring of ML models match (outperform?) the performance of dedicated frameworks? We answer the above positively by building Raven, a system that leverages native integration of ML runtimes (such as ONNX Runtime) deep within SQL Server and a unified intermediate representation (IR) to enable advanced cross-optimizations between ML and database operators. In this optimization space, we discover the most exciting research opportunities that combine DB/compiler/ML thinking. Our initial evaluation on real data demonstrates performance gains of up to 5.5× from the native integration of ML in SQL Server and up to 24× from cross-optimizations. An early preview of the ONNX Runtime integration is currently available with Azure’s SQL Database Edge.