I want to connect R to SQL Server so I can export some R data frames as tables to SQL Server.

From a few online tutorials, I've seen they use the RODBC package, and it seems that you first need to create an ODBC name first, by going to ODBC Data sources (64-bit) > System DSN > Add > SQL Server Native Client 11.0> and then insert your specifications.

I have no idea how databases are managed, so forgive my ignorance here.. my question is: if there is already a database/server set up on SQL Server, particularly also where I want to export my R data to, do I still need to do this?

For instance, when I open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, I see the following:

• Server type: Database Engine
• Server name: example.server.myorganization.com
• Authentication: SQL Sever Authentication
• Login: organization_user
• Password: organization_password

After logging in, I can access a database called "Organization_Division_DBO" > Tables which is where I want to upload my data from R as a table. Does this mean the whole ODBC shebang is already setup for me, and I can skip the steps mentioned here where an ODBC needs to be set up?

Can I instead use the code shown here:

library(sqldf)
library(odbc)
con <- dbConnect(odbc(),
                 Driver = "SQL Server",
                 Server = "example.server.myorganization.com",
                 Database = "Organization_Division_DBO",
                 UID = "organization_user",
                 PWD = "organization_password")
dbWriteTable(conn = con, 
             name = "My_R_Table", 
             value = )  ## x is any data frame I have in R

I note that on this page they use a similar code to above (what is port number?) and also there is some mention "that there is also support for DSNs", so I am a little confused. Also, is there any advantage/disadvantage over using the ODBC package over the RODBC package to do this?