Connect PHP to Remote SQL Server?

Apache and PHP 4.3.9 are on a *nix server and we don't have root access,
HOWEVER we can have the tech support perform pretty much any action except
re-compile PHP (for which they charge), but I'm hoping i could dynamically
load extensions during run-time. I just need to know which extensions.

PHP has been compiled with unixODBC and dbx (there is no mssql extension on
the server). These look like likely tools for a SQL server connection, but
nothing works. I can't find anything about unixODBC in relation to PHP,
unless FreeTDS is mentioned as well.

I tried loading odbc.so during runtime, but it can't be found. Same for
mssql.so. Should we add these files to the extensions dir for use with
dl()? Should we install FreeTDS? Should we do both?

How can we do this without recompiling PHP?

I have the remote SQL server IP, the port number, the username and the
password. The web server IP has been added to the allow list for the SQL
Server.

Any advice will be welcome. Thanks in advance!

Leaning on the PHP list,
Jason

On 10/5/07, Jason Paschal <jpaschal@gmail.com> wrote:
> Apache and PHP 4.3.9 are on a *nix server and we don't have root access,
> HOWEVER we can have the tech support perform pretty much any action except
> re-compile PHP (for which they charge), but I'm hoping i could dynamically
> load extensions during run-time. I just need to know which extensions.

i'd say mssql from freetds.

> I tried loading odbc.so during runtime, but it can't be found. Same for
> mssql.so. Should we add these files to the extensions dir for use with
> dl()? Should we install FreeTDS? Should we do both?

if they're not there they can't be loaded.

i would say use freetds since i've used it in the past. not sure about
what is the best nowadays for sql server 2k/etc. i used freeTDS with
php 4 to connect to mssql. i forget wihch version. maybe 6.0, maybe
7.0 if there was one?

i'm thinking there is a way for ODBC to connect but again, no clue.

> How can we do this without recompiling PHP?

i don't think you can.

note: with freetds you have to do something like putenv('TDSVER=70');
before connecting if you're having issues. you may have to google for
that too.

Jason Paschal wrote:
> Apache and PHP 4.3.9 are on a *nix server and we don't have root access,
> HOWEVER we can have the tech support perform pretty much any action except
> re-compile PHP (for which they charge), but I'm hoping i could dynamically
> load extensions during run-time. I just need to know which extensions.
>
> PHP has been compiled with unixODBC and dbx (there is no mssql extension on
> the server). These look like likely tools for a SQL server connection, but
> nothing works. I can't find anything about unixODBC in relation to PHP,
> unless FreeTDS is mentioned as well.
>
> I tried loading odbc.so during runtime, but it can't be found. Same for
> mssql.so. Should we add these files to the extensions dir for use with
> dl()? Should we install FreeTDS? Should we do both?
>
> How can we do this without recompiling PHP?
>
> I have the remote SQL server IP, the port number, the username and the
> password. The web server IP has been added to the allow list for the SQL
> Server.
>
> Any advice will be welcome. Thanks in advance!
>
> Leaning on the PHP list,
> Jason
>
I have seen reference to people using the sybase extension to connect to
a MSSQL server before.

Here is a reference from the php.net web site.

http://us.php.net/manual/en/ref.sybase.php#54147

Jim