ODBC
Description
Adding support in SME Server for a universal connection to foreign datebase servers using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC).
This HowTo focus on building PHP support for ODBC.
Used packages
unixODBC - is an API that provides a common interface to many different databases. unixODBC official site
unixODBC-devel
php-odbc - is simply an extension for PHP that allows you to use unixODBC to connect to database servers.
freetds - a re-implementation of the Tabular Data Stream protocol made by Sybase and Microsoft. FreeTDS official site
Optional: gcc - The GNU Compiler Collection includes front ends for C, C++, Objective-C, Fortran, Java, and Ada, as well as libraries for these languages. GCC official site
Installation
Install basic packages in server-manager, instructions here:
unixODBC.i386
unixODBC-devel.i386
php-odbc.i386
gcc.i386 (only needed if you are going to install from source)
Alt 1: Install FreeTDS precompiled
It save some work and you don't need gcc but usually contain an older version. Testing suggests it still works for SQL Server 2005.
Install FreeTDS from Dag repository, (you must add Dag repo first, instructions here):
yum --enablerepo=dag install freetds freetds-devel
If Dag repo does not work or you want another rpm package, this will do, modify path as needed:
wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/freetds/freetds-0.64-1.el4.rf.i386.rpm
wget http://dag.wieers.com/rpm/packages/freetds/freetds-devel-0.64-1.el4.rf.i386.rpm
yum localinstall freetds-*.rpm
In any case, reconfigure the server afterwards:
signal-event post-upgrade; signal-event reboot
Alt 2: Install FreeTDS from source
This will give you full control and the latest version (or any version, modify path as you like).
wget http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ALPHA/freetds/stable/freetds-0.82.tar.gz
gzip -d freetds-0.82.tar.gz
tar -xvf freetds-0.82.tar
cd freetds-0.82
./configure --sysconfdir=/etc --prefix=/usr --enable-msdblib --with-tdsver=8.0
make
make install
make clean
signal-event post-upgrade; signal-event reboot
Test with tsql
TSQL is a database client included in FreeTDS package for testing and troubleshooting. "man tsql" give more info.
Check compile settings:
tsql -C
Should output something similar to this:
Compile-time settings (established with the "configure" script): Version: freetds v0.64 MS db-lib source compatibility: yes Sybase binary compatibility: unknown Thread safety: yes iconv library: yes TDS version: 4.2 iODBC: no unixodbc: yes
Test connection to a foreign database, overriding settings in freetds.conf (modify to suit your conditions, ip could be replaced with FQDN):
tsql -H 192.168.0.112 -p 1433 -U dbuser -P dbpass
A response something like this would indicate that connection was successful but login failed (wich is normal at this stage):
locale is "sv_SE" locale charset is "ISO-8859-1" Msg 18456, Level 14, State 1, Server XP3B\SQLEXPRESS, Line 1 Login failed for user 'dbuser'. Msg 2002, Level 9, State -1, Server OpenClient, Line -1 Adaptive Server connection failed There was a problem connecting to the server
Configuration
Since these configuration files reside in /etc they may be overwritten by other server modifications. Therefore we use a templating system to make sure key information survives. More info here
freetds.conf
This file contains the settings that tell freetds about each server it will connect to. Host should be a FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name). Make directory to hold template fragments to be included in the original path: /etc/freetds.conf
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/freetds.conf
Copy the original file to be included as a template fragment when we regenerate the file:
cp /etc/freetds.conf /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/freetds.conf/10original
Make additional fragment for your foreign server, "20xp3c" is my example name and can be modified:
pico /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/freetds.conf/20xp3c
Add text about your foreign database server (modify to suit your conditions):
# Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express on a Win XP machine [remoteserver] host = xp3c port = 1433 tds version = 8.0
Exit with ctrl-x, save with y and enter. Regenerate the complete file:
expand-template /etc/freetds.conf
The generated file can now be viewed with:
pico /etc/freetds.conf
If you want to edit the text, edit the template fragments, not this file.
odbcinst.ini
This file tells unixODBC about the FreeTDS driver.
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbcinst.ini
cp /etc/odbcinst.ini /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbcinst.ini/10original
pico /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbcinst.ini/20sqlserver
Add driver path (modify to suit your conditions):
[FreeTDS] Description = Access Ms SQL Server with FreeTDS driver Driver = /usr/lib/libtdsodbc.so
expand-template /etc/odbcinst.ini
odbc.ini
This file defines the DSN's (Data Source Names) for each ODBC connection. A DSN is simply a label for a given connection.
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbc.ini
cp /etc/odbc.ini /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbc.ini/10original
pico /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/odbc.ini/20xp3c
Add text (modify to suit your conditions):
[remoteserver] Driver = FreeTDS Description = Connection to DB_KALLE on server xp3c Trace = No Server = xp3c Database = db_kalle Port = 1433 TDS_Version = 8.0
expand-template /etc/odbc.ini
Hosts
If the DNS does not resolve the ip of the machines running the remote SQL server (try ping the host name), add them to your hosts file (ip and change the machine name ...):
mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/hosts
pico /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/etc/hosts/20xp3c
192.168.0.112 xp3c
expand-template /etc/hosts
Test again
tsql
Test connection, using input in freetds.conf:
tsql -S remoteserver -U testuser -P testpass
This should output something like this:
locale is "sv_SE" locale charset is "ISO-8859-1" 1>
1> indicate that you are connected, logged in and the server are ready for SQL commands. Exit tsql console with:
quit
isql
At the command line enter the command isql -v DSN USERNAME PASSWORD e.g.:
isql -v remoteserver dbuser dbpass
+---------------------------------------+ | Connected! | | | | sql-statement | | help [tablename] | | quit | | | +---------------------------------------+ SQL>
If you do not get output similar to the above, then check your config files, pay special attention to upper/lowercase, for example XP3C is not the same as xp3c!
Check PHP
phpinfo(), section Configure Command, outputs: --with-unixODBC=shared,/usr There should also be a section "odbc".
PHP function odbc_connect (and related) should now work.
Sample php code to check above could be (add standard html code):
if (function_exists('odbc_connect'))
{ echo "Function odbc_connect exists!"; }
else { echo "Function odbc_connect does NOT exist!"; }
and
phpinfo();
Additional information
FreeTDS user guide with troubleshooting section.
Input from, and credit to, Nick Critten unofficial copy of his HowTo and calio.it translated
Troubleshooting
Tab spaces in config files may cause troubles, use single space before and after =.
Ms SQL Server
If you are using instances, replace "port = 1433" with "instance = db_kalle" in your freetds.conf template fragment (replace db_kalle with the name of your instance).
From SQL Server 2000 TDS version 8.0 should be used. Add the line "tds version = 8.0" in your template fragment for freetds.conf
Ms SQL Server might not allow the db system user "sa" to connect from outside the server, create another account with proper permissions.
Express edition have remote access disabled by default. Can be changed in the menu "Surface Area Configuration". More info
