Oracle Database Tips by Donald Burleson

Installation

This is a very simple tool and the price for this simplicity is the complexity of tools used to create it. As said at the beginning of this chapter, this tool requires several things:

• PEAR HTML_Form

• PEAR HTML_Table

• ADOdb

• DBA_Helper package accessible to every schema which wants to use the tool. This can be achieved both by creating the package in one's own schema, as well as creating it in a central location and providing a synonym to it.

In addition, this tool requires a web server, preferably Apache2, with PHP5 installed.  It will not work with PHP4 as it routinely uses exceptions as an error checking method.

I am aware that, at the time of writing of this book, Apache 1.3.x is the most popular version, but after several failed attempts to properly install the Apache 1..3.x/PHP5 combination on Windows 2000 and Windows XP, my conclusion is that Apache2 is simply much more reliable than the Apache 1.3.x. I have never had any problems with Apache2.   Conveniently, Zend Corefor Oracle can be used with Apache 1.3 installations. Zend Core for Oracle is a complete PHP5 installation, with GUI installer and configuration utility. Zend Core for Oracle is available for Windows platforms.

On the other hand, Apache 1.3.x was just as functional on the UNIX platforms like Solaris 8 and Red Hat Linux, be it ES 3.0 or Fedora Core 2 and 3. On these platforms, PHP5 was linked from the source; while on Windows varieties, the binary distribution of PHP5 was used.

When all these elements are in place, the installation is simple:

• Create a directory to hold the files and un-tar the distribution into that directory.

• Make that directory ("/home/mgogala/work/DBA")  known to the Apache web server by putting something like this in the httpd.conf:

Alias /dba "/home/mgogala/work/DBA/"
<Directory "/home/mgogala/work/DBA">
allow from all
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
AllowOverride None
</Directory>

• Modify the helper.inc.php, if necessary, to reflect the location where ADOdb is installed.

• Install the DBA_Helper package in each schema that will have the access to the tool. The tool queries DBA tables like DBA_USERS, DBA_OBJECTS and DBA_FREE_SPACE. The tool also queries virtual tables, so called v$ tables, v$lock for instance. This means that each schema using it needs the DBA privilege. DBA_Helper is written by a DBA for the DBA. There is no way around it.

• Use the tool, by calling it from the browser.

•  Installing the necessary PEAR modules is covered in detail in the last chapter of this book, but it is outlined here, for completeness. PEAR is installed with PHP and it includes the installer called, appropriately, "pear". Here is the output of the "pear" command:

Pear Command
$ pear help
Commands:
build                  Build an Extension From C Source
bundle                 Unpacks a Pecl Package
clear-cache            Clear XML-RPC Cache
config-get             Show One Setting
config-help            Show Information About Setting
config-set             Change Setting
config-show            Show All Settings
cvsdiff                Run a "cvs diff" for all files in a
package
cvstag                 Set CVS Release Tag
download               Download Package
download-all           Downloads each available package
from master_server
info                   Display information about a package
install                Install Package
list                   List Installed Packages
list-all               List All Packages
list-upgrades          List Available Upgrades
login                  Connects and authenticates to remote
server
logout                 Logs out from the remote server
makerpm                Builds an RPM spec file from a PEAR
package
package                Build Package
package-dependencies   Show package dependencies
package-validate       Validate Package Consistency
remote-info            Information About Remote Packages
remote-list            List Remote Packages
run-tests              Run Regression Tests
search                 Search remote package database
shell-test             Shell Script Test
sign                   Sign a package distribution file
uninstall              Un-install Package
upgrade                Upgrade Package
upgrade-all            Upgrade All Packages
Usage: pear [options] command [command-options]
<parameters>
Type "pear help options" to list all options.
Type "pear help shortcuts" to list all command shortcuts.
Type "pear help <command>" to get the help for the
specified command.
$

 Additional PEAR modules are installed using the "pear install" command. The commands, "pear install HTML_Common", "pear install HTML_Table" and "pear install HTML_Form" installs the PEAR modules needed for DBA_Helper to function properly.  This command is essentially a network installer which installs modules directly from the Internet repository.

See code depot for complete scripts

This is an excerpt from the book Easy Oracle PHP.  You can get it for more than 30% by buying it directly from the publisher and get instant HTML-DB scripts from the code depot:

Easy Oracle PHP Create Dynamic Web Pages with Oracle Data Includes online HTML-DB code depot Buy it now for 30% off - Only $19.95

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HTML-DB support:

For HTML-DB development support just call to gat an Oracle Certified professional for all HTML-DB development projects.