2. PHPRunner Tips and Tricks
  3. Connecting to SQL Server from PHP running on a Linux server
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Connecting to SQL Server from PHP running on a Linux server

 		6/4/2021 4:44:44 PM
PHPRunner Tips and Tricks
Sergey Kornilov admin

While this is not the most traditional setup, connecting from LInux server's PHP to SQL Server database is possible and here are the steps.

  • Linux Ubuntu 18.04 Server
  • PHP 8.0.5
  • Apache 2.4.29
  • MS SQL Server - 2016 SP2

Configure ODBC driver on Linux server

Testing your ODBC driver installation

The key is to execute the following command on your Ubuntu server:
sudo apt-get install -y php-odbc

Now in PHPRunner you can add a new database connection and use the following connection string:
Provider=SQLOLEDB;Server=<MSSQL IP / Hostname>;Uid=myloginname;Pwd=mypassword;Database=myMSSQLdatabase
Dalkeith 6/7/2021

Good timing I tried this the other day trying to link to an SQL Azure database but failed because no odbc on the linux server. If I can get it to work it will reduce my hosting charges.
Dalkeith 6/7/2021

I should add that if you are using Microsoft Azure, a phprunner application hosted within a linux hosted web app linked to SQL Azure database, performance is fantastic. I believe they have the odbc driver pre-installed when you set up a linux web application host as I didn't have to do this configuration to make it work just connected through PHPrunners configuration and it was go.