Author:  Muhammad Kamran Azeem
Created on: 20051211
Last Revised: 20070227
Apache:   2.2.4
PHP:  4.4.5
Oracle:  10g R2
OS:  CentOS 4.4

Note: This is also a year old. But helps understand the basic principle of combining Apache, PHP and Oracle.

NOTE: NOTE: NOTE: REMOVE APACHE RPM, or else you will be pulling your hair afterwards.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!



Oracle 10gR2 client was installed in /oracle as type: "Run Time"

After installation of Oracle software is completed, it is better to run ldconfig once.

~]# ldconfig


Apache was installed using :

~]# mkdir /www

~]# cd /tmp/httpd-2.2.4

httpd-2.2.4]# ./configure --prefix=/www --exec-prefix=/www --bindir=/www/bin --sysconfdir=/www/conf --libdir=/www/lib  --enable-module=so

httpd-2.2.4]# make && make install && echo "Apache Installation Success" || echo "Apache FAILED"


~]# cd /tmp/php-4.4.5

php-4.4.5]# export ORACLE_HOME=/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1

php-4.4.5]# export ORACLE_SID=orcl

The following will work for "Administrator" and "Runtime" versions of Oracle Client software installation only :

php-4.4.5]# ./configure --prefix=/www/php --with-apxs2=/www/bin/apxs --with-config-file-path=/www/php --with-oci8=$ORACLE_HOME --enable-shared=$ORACLE_HOME/lib --disable-xml --without-pear --enable-sigchild



php-4.4.5]# make && make install && echo "PHP Installation Success" || echo "PHP FAILED"

php-4.4.5]# libtool --finish /tmp/php-4.4.5/libs


This step is not required:-

~]# chmod o+rx  /oracle -R


~]# vi /www/conf/httpd.conf

 (Make the following changes:-)

 ServerAdmin This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
 ServerName dbserver.yourdomain.com
 
 AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .phtml

 DirectoryIndex index.php index.html index.html.var

 LoadModule php4_module        modules/libphp4.so  # (Normally it already exists, you don't have to write yourself)


~]# vi /www/bin/envvars

# This file is generated from envvars-std.in
#
export ORACLE_HOME="/oracle/product/10.2.0/db_1"
export ORACLE_BASE="/oracle/"
export ORACLE_SID="orcl"
LD_LIBRARY_PATH="/www/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/lib"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH


To check PHP:

~]# vi /www/htdocs/index.php
<? phpinfo(); ?>


~]# vi /www/htdocs/test.php

<?php
if ($conn=OCILogon("scott", "tiger", "orcl")) {
   echo "<h1>Active</h1>";
}else {
  $err = OCIError();
   echo "<h1>Failed</h1>";
}
?>

( Test your entire setup by this script. Should show you "Active" on your web page. )


Now this is the part which made me too mad for a week. It gave nme all kind of weird messages, like: "unable to retrieve text", etc etc.

The application developers were over-riding the variable settings of my apache server

~]# vi /www/htdocs/dsn/conn.php

<?php

# #########################################################################################
# As you can see these settings from application were causing all stupid errors
# So I commented them and things become all ok.
# There is no need to setup these variables here as they are setup in /www/bin/envvars file
# #########################################################################################

#putenv("ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1");
#putenv("ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1");
#putenv("ORACLE_SID=FPSC");
#putenv("NLS_LANGUAGE=FRENCH_FRANCE.WE8ISO8859P1");
#putenv("TNS_ADMIN=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1/network/admin");
#putenv("TNS_ADMIN=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1");
#putenv("ORA_NLS33=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1/ocommon/nls/admin/data");
#putenv("LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1/lib:/u01/app/oracle/product/10.1.0/Db_1/network");

# ##############################################################################################################

if(!$conn) {

       $conn=OCILogon("scott", "tiger", "orcl");
       if($error = OCIError()) {
           die("<font color=red>ERROR!! Couldn't connect to server!</font>");
       }
 }
?>


Now setup Apache to start at boot time.

~]# vi /etc/rc.local
/www/bin/apachectl -k start && echo "Apache startup OK" || echo "Apache startup FAILED" ; sleep 3

Or you can setup an init.d script for this.

DONE.