Linux-oracle-php

[fintan]

I don't know if this belongs here but it covers alot of topics.

Currently we are changing and redesigning/recoding basically rebuilding our intranet from scratch.

At the moment were using linux as a webserver running ChilliSoft to interprate asp. Also were using SQL link to connect to access databases on a windows 2000 box.

Messy I know.

What we want to do is keep the linux webserver but run php on it and centralize/merge our databases and convert them into oracle.

"Oracle will be running on a different linux box"

What I wondering does anyone have any experience/tips with oracle-php-linux. I know php has to be recompiled to use oracle but is there anything else I should be aware of?

Thanks

[daisho]

Yes. Persistant Oracle connections have some issues. In most cases this shouldn't cause you a problem unless you max out your Oracle Server. One temporary solutions is to set a low max_requests for an apache thread to clean up extra connections.

Also if in the same script you will be calling "OCILogon" twice with different login information then their are some issues with that. If your not doing that then don't worry about it.

Not sure how much oracle experiance you have or how well you know the OCI8 calls but I highly recommened to use Binds as much as possible rather than building the entire SQL string. There are a few reasons for this.

1. Oracle as a low limit on SQL length I think it's about 4000 characters. Haven't hit it in awhile since I use binds now.

2. Oracle can cache queries much better when they are bound since it will be able to see similar queries much better.

3. Security. With binds you remote most possible remote hacks from URL Parameters.

4. Security. With binds you remote most possible remote hacks from URL Parameters.

5. Security. With binds you remote most possible remote hacks from URL Parameters.

You can never have to much Security :)

Anyway if you have more questions regarding PHP and Oracle we should move to the PHP Scripting forum.

If you have questions about setting up Oracle on linux please let me know. We can keep that thread here and hopefully I can answer any questions you have since setting up Oracle on Linux is not a walk in the park. (Though once it's running it is very very solid).

daisho

[fintan]

Currently were running RedHat 7.1 thinking of upgrading to 9.
Is there issues with either.

I have good experience with linux setting dns servers and the like. A basic grounding in php but oracle is a new one on me.
What do you mean by bind?

[daisho]

There are issues with Oracle and RedHat 9. For now stay away is my recommendation. There are some work arounds. The issues are related to the new versions of GLibC using in RH9.

What version of oracle are you looking at? Oracle 8 works fine on RH6 but needs some workarounds for higher versions.

Oracle 9 client works find on RH7 not sure about 8. Because of licencing I've never installed an Oracle9 Database only the client.

When I say binds I'm refering to OCIBindByName and OCIBindByNum calls. Reading the docs on them will explain what they do.

Hope that helps. Let me know if I can clear anything else up.

daisho

[fintan]

What do you do to re-compile php with oracle support. Do the oracle libraries have to be in a specific place. Is it just ./configure --with-oci8 then make, make install. Is there anything else thats needed. Does apache need anything?

Thanks

[daisho]

Yes you also need --enable-sigchild (or something close to that) when you configure PHP.

Also apache _MUST_ be linked with libpthread or it will coredump on startup.

daisho.