MLflow allows you to create, train, and serve machine learning models, apart from other features, such as organizing experiments, tracking metrics, and more.

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How to Use MLflow Models in MindsDB

Here are the prerequisites for using MLflow-served models in MindsDB:
  1. Train a model via a wrapper class that inherits from the mlflow.pyfunc.PythonModel class. It should expose the predict() method that returns the predicted output for some input data when called.
    Please ensure that the Python version specified for Conda environment matches the one used to train the model.
  2. Start the MLflow server: 
    mlflow server -p 5001 --backend-store-uri sqlite:////path/to/mlflow.db --default-artifact-root ./artifacts --host 0.0.0.0
  3. Serve the trained model: 
    mlflow models serve --model-uri ./model_folder_name

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Example

Let’s create a model that registers an MLflow-served model as an AI Table: 
CREATE MODEL mindsdb.mlflow_model
PREDICT target
USING
    engine = 'mlflow',
    model_name = 'model_folder_name',                     -- replace the model_folder_name variable with a real value
    mlflow_server_url = 'http://0.0.0.0:5001/',           -- match the port number with the MLflow server (point 2 in the previous section)
    mlflow_server_path = 'sqlite:////path/to/mlflow.db',  -- replace the path with a real value (here we use the sqlite database)
    predict_url = 'http://localhost:5000/invocations';    -- match the port number that serves the trained model (point 3 in the previous section)
Here is how to check the models status: 
DESCRIBE mlflow_model;
Once the status is complete, we can query for predictions. One way is to query for a single prediction using synthetic data in the WHERE clause. 
SELECT target
FROM mindsdb.mlflow_model
WHERE text = 'The tsunami is coming, seek high ground';
Another way is to query for batch predictions by joining the model with the data table. 
SELECT t.text, m.predict
FROM mindsdb.mlflow_model AS m
JOIN files.some_text as t;
Here, the data table comes from the files integration. It is joined with the model and predictions are made for all the records at once.
Get More InsightsCheck out the article on How to bring your own machine learning model to databases by Patricio Cerda Mardini to learn more.