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AlmaLinux LAMP

without comments


After installing and configuring MySQL 8.0.30, I installed the Apache Web Server, PHP and the MySQLi packages. Here are the step-by-step instructions after installing and configuring the MySQL Server and provisioning a student user and the sakila and studentdb databases (blog for those steps). After installing the major components, I completed the HTTPS configuration steps for Apache 2.

The installation steps are:

  1. Install the Apache packages as the sudoer user with this command:

    sudo dnf install -y httpd
  2. Enable Apache as the sudoer user with this command:

    chkconfig httpd on

    This returns the following completion message:

    Note: Forwarding request to 'systemctl enable httpd.service'.
    Created symlink /etc/systemd/system/multi-user.target.wants/httpd.service → /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.

    A quick Linux syntax note in the event you want to confirm the link or link target later. You can use the following syntax as a sudoer user to find the link:

    ls `find /etc -type l | grep httpd.service 2>/dev/null`

    and the following syntax as a sudoer user to find the link’s target:

    readlink `find /etc -type l | grep httpd.service 2>/dev/null`
  3. You still need to start the Apache service unless you reboot the operating system as the sudoer user with this command:

    apachectl start
  4. At this point, you need to check the firewall settings because Apache can’t even read localhost at this point. If you’re new to these firewall commands, you should consider reviewing Korbin Brown’s tutorial. As the sudoer user check the Apache available services with this command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-services

    It should return:

    cockpit dhcpv6-client ssh

    Add the following services and ports with these commands:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 80/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 443/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port 8080/tcp --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=http --permanent
    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-service=https --permanent

    Check the open ports with the following command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-ports

    It should return:

    80/tcp 443/tcp 8080/tcp

    Check the open services with the following command:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --list-services

    It should return:

    cockpit dhcpv6-client http https ssh
  5. Create the hello.htm file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    Restart the Apache service as the sudoer user:

    apache restart

    <html>
    <body>
    Hello World!
    </body>
    </html>

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/hello.htm

    It should print “Hello World!” in the browser.

  6. Install the php package as the sudoer user with the following command:

    sudo dnf install -y php

    Create the info.php file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    <?php
      phpinfo();
    ?>

    apache restart

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/info.php

    It should return the following in the browser.

  7. Install the php_mysqli package as the sudoer user with the following command:

    dnf install -y php-mysqli

    Create the mysqli_check.php file in the /var/www/html directory as the root user:

    <html>
    <header>
    <title>Static Query Object Sample</title>
    </header>
    <body>
    <?php
      if (!function_exists('mysqli_init') && !extension_loaded('mysqli')) {
        print 'mysqli not installed.'; }
      else {
        print 'mysqli installed.'; }
      if (!function_exists('pdo_init') && !extension_loaded('pdo')) {
        print '<p>pdo not installed.</p>'; }
      else {
        print '<p>pdo installed.</p>'; }
    ?>
    </script>
    </body>
    </html>

    apache restart

    Then, you can launch the Firefox browser and type the following:

    localhost/mysqli_check.php

    It should print the following in the browser.

    mysqli installed.
     
    pdo installed.
  8. Check if the mod_ssl module is installed. You can use the following command::

    rpm -qa | grep mod_ssl

    Assuming it’s not installed, you install it like this:

    dnf install -y mod_ssl

    Recheck after installing mod_ssl with the following command::

    rpm -qa | grep mod_ssl

    It should print:

    mod_ssl-2.4.51-7.el9_0.x86_64
  9. AlmaLinux and Apache require you to resolve the ServerName values and the public and private keys. Run this command on AlmaLinux to begin verifying and configuring the ServerName values and the public and private keys:

    httpd -M | grep ssl

    Assuming a new installation consistent with were MySQL and Apache were just configured, you should get the following message:

    AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using localhost.localdomain. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
     ssl_module (shared)

    Recheck the failure for more detail with this command:

    sudo systemctl status httpd.service -l --no-pager

    It should print:

    ● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
         Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
        Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d
                 └─php-fpm.conf
         Active: active (running) since Sun 2022-11-13 22:39:07 EST; 1h 37min ago
           Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
       Main PID: 1351 (httpd)
         Status: "Total requests: 0; Idle/Busy workers 100/0;Requests/sec: 0; Bytes served/sec:   0 B/sec"
          Tasks: 213 (limit: 23280)
         Memory: 43.1M
            CPU: 2.733s
         CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
                 ├─1351 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1443 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1452 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 ├─1456 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                 └─1459 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
     
    Nov 13 22:39:06 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain httpd[1351]: AH00558: httpd: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name, using localhost.localdomain. Set the 'ServerName' directive globally to suppress this message
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
    Nov 13 22:39:07 localhost.localdomain httpd[1351]: Server configured, listening on: port 80

    It takes the next set of steps to fix the ServerName values.

    • Generically, on Linux you need to find the files to modify. You can use the following command from within the /etc directory to find the configuration files in the /etc directory that include ServerName in them. Their values will be proceeded by a # symbol because they’re comments by default.

      find /etc -type f | xargs grep -i ServerName

      It should return the following:

      ./httpd/conf.d/ssl.conf:#ServerName www.example.com:443
      ./httpd/conf/httpd.conf:# ServerName gives the name and port that the server uses to identify itself.
      ./httpd/conf/httpd.conf:#ServerName www.example.com:80
      ./dnsmasq.conf:# tftp_servername (the third option to dhcp-boot) and in that
    • Add the following line to the ssl.conf file as the root user:

      ServerName localhost:443
    • Add the following line to the httpd.conf file as the root user:

      ServerName localhost:443
    • After adding the two values, restart Apache with the following command:

      sudo apachectl restart
    • Rerun the systemctl command to get the status of the httpd service with this command:

      sudo systemctl status httpd.service -l --no-pager

      It should print:

      ● httpd.service - The Apache HTTP Server
           Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service; enabled; vendor preset: disabled)
          Drop-In: /usr/lib/systemd/system/httpd.service.d
                   └─php-fpm.conf
           Active: active (running) since Mon 2022-11-14 00:37:03 EST; 3min 23s ago
             Docs: man:httpd.service(8)
         Main PID: 53596 (httpd)
           Status: "Total requests: 0; Idle/Busy workers 100/0;Requests/sec: 0; Bytes served/sec:   0 B/sec"
            Tasks: 213 (limit: 23280)
           Memory: 34.0M
              CPU: 183ms
           CGroup: /system.slice/httpd.service
                   ├─53596 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53597 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53598 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   ├─53599 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
                   └─53600 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
       
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Starting The Apache HTTP Server...
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain systemd[1]: Started The Apache HTTP Server.
      Nov 14 00:37:03 localhost.localdomain httpd[53596]: Server configured, listening on: port 443, port 80
  10. Your next step requires setting up an SSL Certificate. Consistent with the design to build a standalone test system that uses a DHCP assigned IP address to resolve a localhost server name, you require the following two tasks to create an openssl self-signed certificate.

    • On the new instance, you create a private subdirectory with this command:

      sudo mkdir /etc/ssl/private

    • Then, you can build a self-signed certificate with this command:
      sudo openssl req -x509 -nodes -days 365 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key -out /etc/ssl/certs/apache-selfsigned.crt

      The openssl command will prompt you for these values to create a private key:

      You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
      into your certificate request.
      What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
      There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
      For some fields there will be a default value,
      If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
      -----
      Country Name (2 letter code) [XX]:
      State or Province Name (full name) []:
      Locality Name (eg, city) [Default City]:
      Organization Name (eg, company) [Default Company Ltd]:
      Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
      Common Name (eg, your name or your server's hostname) []:
      Email Address []:
  11. Your last step requires three tasks to configure Apache to use SSL.

    • You need to create the following sites-available directory with the following command as the root user:

      mkdir /etc/httpd/sites-available

    • Add the following localhost.conf/etc/httpd/sites-available directory:
      <VirtualHost *:443>
         ServerName localhost
         DocumentRoot /var/www/html
       
         SSLEngine on
         SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/localhost.crt
         SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/apache-selfsigned.key
      </VirtualHost>

    • Restart Apache with the following command:

      sudo apachectl restart
  12. After configuring everything, let’s test our self-signed HTTPS skunkworks. Launch the default Firefox browser and enter the following URL, which uses the mysql_check.php file from step #7:

    https://localhost/mysqli_check.php

    It will raise a warning message about a potential security risk, which is caused by our self-signed certificate. Click the Advanced… button and will see the option to Accept the Risk and Continue. If you want to use the self-signed and contained AlmaLinux LAMP stack for developer testing, accept the risk.

    Having assumed the risk, the confirmation of the configuration will be displayed as follows:

As always, I hope this helps those looking to install MySQL, PHP, on AlmaLinux.

Written by maclochlainn

October 30th, 2022 at 11:16 pm

MySQL PHP Transaction

without comments

My students liked the MySQL Transaction post but wanted one that showed how an external web application would interact with MySQL in the scope of a transaction. So, I put a little PHP function together that write across two related tables in the context of a transaction. It uses mysqli (MySQL Improved Extension) to connect PHP to the MySQL database.

The function is barebones and uses the oldest approach of hidden inputs to maintain context between rendered forms using an HTML POST method. The hidden inputs are preceded with “h_” and snake case is used for variable names.

The function only writes to two tables. It writes to the member table and when that completes successfully to the contact table. The function:

  • Submits credentials from a file and raises an error when they don’t work.
  • Initializes a SQL statement.
  • Disables auto commit.
  • Starts a transaction.
  • Defines a first SQL statement with placeholders.
  • Binds local variables to the first SQL statement’s placeholders.
  • Rolls back the transaction when the first statement fails and continues to the next SQL statement when first statement succeeds.
  • Defines a second SQL statement with placeholders.
  • Binds local variables to the second SQL statement’s placeholders.
  • Rolls back the transaction when the second statement fails and commits the work when the second statement succeeds.
  • Closes a SQL statement.

The code for the PHP function is:

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/*
||  Function Name: update_membership
|| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
||  No return, treated as a procedure, or method returning a void.
|| ----------------------------------------------------------------------
*/
function update_membership(
    $h_account_number
  , $h_member_type
  , $h_credit_card_number
  , $h_credit_card_type
  , $account_number
  , $member_type
  , $credit_card_number
  , $credit_card_type
  , $h_first_name
  , $h_middle_name
  , $h_last_name
  , $h_contact_type
  , $first_name
  , $middle_name
  , $last_name
  , $contact_type) {
 
  // Include the credentials file if omitted.
  include_once("MySQLCredentials.inc");
 
  // Assign credentials to connection.
  $mysqli = new mysqli(HOSTNAME, USERNAME, PASSWORD, DATABASE);
 
  // Check for connection error and print message.
  if ($mysqli->connect_errno) {
    print $mysqli->connect_error."<br />";
    print "Connection not established ...<br />";
  }
  else {
    // Initial statement.
    $stmt = $mysqli->stmt_init();
 
    // Disable auto commit when you want two plus statements run.
    $mysqli->autocommit(FALSE);
 
    // Set the transaction guarantee.
    $mysqli->begin_transaction(MYSQLI_TRANS_START_READ_WRITE);
 
    // Declare a static query.
    $sql = "UPDATE   member\n"
         . "SET      member_type = ?\n"
         . ",        credit_card_number = ?\n"
         . ",        credit_card_type = ?\n"
         . "WHERE    account_number = ?\n"
         . "AND      member_type = ?\n"
         . "AND      credit_card_number = ?\n"
         . "AND      credit_card_type = ?\n";
 
    // Prepare statement.
    if ($stmt->prepare($sql)) {
      $stmt->bind_param(
          "sssssss"
         , $member_type
         , $credit_card_number
         , $credit_card_type
         , $account_number
         , $h_member_type
         , $h_credit_card_number
         , $h_credit_card_type); } 
 
    // Attempt query and exit with failure before processing.
    if (!$stmt->execute()) {
 
      // Rollback or undo the transaction.
      $mysqli->rollback();
 
      // Print failure to resolve query message.
      print $mysqli->error."<br />\n";
      print "Failed to resolve query ...<br />\n";
    }
 
    // Declare a static query.
    $sql = "UPDATE   contact\n"
         . "SET      first_name = ?\n"
         . ",        middle_name = ?\n"
         . ",        last_name = ?\n"
         . ",        contact_type = ?\n"
         . "WHERE    first_name = ?\n"
         . "AND      middle_name = ?\n"
         . "AND      last_name = ?\n"
         . "AND      contact_type = ?\n";
 
    // Prepare statement.
    if ($stmt->prepare($sql)) {
      $stmt->bind_param(
          "ssssssss"
        , $first_name
        , $middle_name
        , $last_name
        , $contact_type
        , $h_first_name
        , $h_middle_name
        , $h_last_name
        , $h_contact_type); } 
 
    // Attempt query and exit with failure before processing.
    if (!$stmt->execute()) {
 
      // Rollback or undo the transaction.
      $mysqli->rollback();
 
      // Print failure to resolve query message.
      print $mysqli->error."<br />";
      print "Failed to resolve query ...<br />";
    }
    else {   
      /*  Manually commiting writes when you have disabled the
      ||  default auto commit setting, explained above.
      || ------------------------------------------------------------
      ||  You would add the following command to commit the 
      ||  transaction.
      ||  ------------------------------
      ||   $mysqli->commit();
      || ------------------------------------------------------------
      */
      $mysqli->commit();
 
      // Close the transaction.
      $mysqli->close();
    }
  }
}

Line 41 disables auto commit and line 44 starts the transaction. Each statement is managed with the subsequent statement nested inside a block of code that is only reachable when the prior statement succeeds. While this only uses the member and contact table, it could use any number of tables. The natural alternative is building an updatable view.

As always, I hope this helps anybody looking for a code complete example.

Written by maclochlainn

June 29th, 2021 at 5:23 pm

MySQL 8.0 Install

without comments

MySQL will be used for our online sections because the VMware instance and Docker configurations where too large to effectively download this term.

MySQL 8.0.21 Installation Steps

After you download the MySQL 8 MSI file, you will perform the following 24 steps to install MySQL on Windows 10. If you want a full developer install you must install Microsoft Excel and Visual Studio first.

MySQL8Install01

  1. The first thing you need to do is grant privileges to allow the MySQL Installer application to work in Windows 10. Click the Yes button to authorize the MySQL Installer to run.

MySQL8Install02

  1. The next thing you need to do is grant privileges to allow the MySQL Installer Launcher application to work in Windows 10. Click the Yes button to authorize the MySQL Installer to run.

MySQL8Install03

  1. Now you start the install by choosing a setup type. As a rule, I recommend you install the Developer Default. It is the default selection and preselected for you. Click the Next button to verify that you can install what you’ve selected.

MySQL8Install04

  1. The next workflow step checks requirements and lists any unmet requirements. The workflow lists the requirements for MySQL for Excel 1.3.8 as unmet because Microsoft Excel is not installed. Click the Next button when there are no unmet requirements in the list. Click the Back button to remove MySQL for Excel 1.3.8 from the setup selection.

MySQL8Install05

  1. Returning to the setup type workflow, you should select the Custom radio button. Click the Next button to view the list of selected types.

MySQL8Install06

  1. Use the green arrow pointing to the left to remove MySQL for Excel 1.3.8 from the list. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer to install the selected MySQL libraries.

MySQL8Install07

  1. This dialog will display for several minutes as each of the MySQL Installer modules is. Click the Next button to move forward in the MySQL Installer workflow.

MySQL8Install08

  1. This dialog qualifies that there are three products to configure. Click the Next button to begin configuration of these products.

MySQL8Install09

  1. This dialog lets you choose between a Standalone MySQL Server / Classic MySQL Replication and InnoDB Cluster. You should choose the Standalone MySQL Server for a developer installation on a laptop or desktop. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer configuration.

MySQL8Install10

  1. This dialog lets you choose set the type and networking values. They should be preselected as they are in the screen image. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer configuration.

MySQL8Install11

  1. This dialog lets you choose between SHA256-based and the older MD5 encryption. Click Use Strong Password Encryption for Authentication (RECOMMENDED) radio button. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer configuration.

MySQL8Install12

  1. This dialog lets you enter the MySQL Root Password. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer configuration.

MySQL8Install13

  1. This dialog lets you enter a Windows Service Name and install a Standard System Account or Custom User account. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Installer configuration.

MySQL8Install14

  1. This dialog lets you apply the configuration of the MySQL Server or Custom User product. Click the Next button to continue the MySQL Server configuration.

MySQL8Install15

  1. This dialog lets you watch the progress of the MySQL Server or Custom User configuration. Click the Finish button to complete the MySQL Server configuration.

MySQL8Install16

  1. This dialog lets you choose the next MySQL Router product for configuration. Click the Next button to begin the MySQL Router configuration.

MySQL8Install17

  1. This dialog allows you to configure the MySQL Router Configuration product. Leave the Hostname and Password fields blank when you do not want to configure the MySQL Router Configuration product. Click the Finish button to complete the MySQL Router workflow.

MySQL8Install18

  1. This dialog lets you choose the next Samples and Examples product for configuration. Click the Next button to begin the Samples and Examples configuration.

MySQL8Install19

  1. This dialog lets you create a Windows 10 MySQL Service. You enter the root password that you entered in Step #12. After you enter root password, click the Check button to verify the root password. The Check button enables the Next button when the root account’s password is validated. Click the now enabled Next button to create the MySQL Service.

MySQL8Install20

  1. This dialog lets you create a Windows 10 MySQL Service. Click the now enabled Next button to create the MySQL Service.

MySQL8Install21

  1. This dialog applies all the configurations selected. Click the Execute button to proceed with the configuration.

MySQL8Install23

  1. This dialog lets you watch the progress of the configuration. Click the Finish button to complete the product configurations.

MySQL8Install23

  1. This dialog the product configurations. You should note that the MySQL Router was not configured or needed. Click the Next button to complete the installation.

MySQL8Install24

  1. This dialog completes the workflow and launches MySQL Workbench and Shell. Click the Finish button to complete the installation and configuration processes.

After you install MySQL, the following shows you how to provision a studentdb database. It also shows you how to enable the global file privilege and how to read data from an external comma-separated values (CSV) file.

Written by maclochlainn

September 25th, 2020 at 12:24 am

mysqli Strict Standards

with 2 comments

Six years ago I wrote a common lookup post to illustrate the effectiveness of things used throughout your applications. Now, I’m updating my student image with a more complete solution to show how to avoid update anomalies.

In the prior post, I used a while loop in PHP, like the following:

do {
      ...
} while($stmt->next_result());

Using PHP Version 7.3.8 and MySQL 8.0.16, that now raises the following error message:

Strict Standards: mysqli_stmt::next_result(): There is no next result set. Please, call mysqli_stmt_more_results()/mysqli_stmt::more_results() to check whether to call this function/method in /var/www/html/app/library.inc on line 81

You can see this type of error when you set the following parameters in your file during testing:

ini_set('display_errors',1);
ini_set('display_startup_errors',1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

You can read more about error handling at this web page. The new and strict compliance standard for mysqli managing rows is:

do {
      ...
} while($stmt->more_result());

As always, I hope this helps those looking for an answer.

Written by maclochlainn

September 14th, 2019 at 10:30 pm

Posted in LAMP,MySQL,MySQL 8,mysqli,PHP

Tagged with ,

MySQL Update in mysqli

without comments

Somebody didn’t like the MySQLi Update Query example on the tutorialspoint.com website because it use the procedure mysqli_query style. Here’s a simple example of using the object-oriented method version. More or less, instead of query it uses the more intuitive execute() method.

The update_member function contains the logic and below it is a call to the test the function. It relies on a MySQLCredentials.inc file that contains the hostname, user name, password, and database name. You can create create member table, like my example in MySQL 8, or any other table in your MySQL database.

<?php
/*
||  Function Name: update_member
*/
function update_member($account_number, $member_type, $credit_card_number, $credit_card_type) {
 
  // Include the credentials file if omitted.
  include_once("MySQLCredentials.inc");
 
  // Assign credentials to connection.
  $mysqli = new mysqli(HOSTNAME, USERNAME, PASSWORD, DATABASE);
 
  // Check for connection error and print message.
  if ($mysqli->connect_errno) {
    print $mysqli->connect_error."<br />";
    print "Connection not established ...<br />";
  }
  else {
    // Initial statement.
    $stmt = $mysqli->stmt_init();
 
    /* Disabling auto commit when you want two or more statements executed as a set.
    || ------------------------------------------------------------
    ||  You would add the following command to disable the default
    ||  of auto commit.
    ||  ------------------------------
    ||   $mysqli->autocommit(FALSE);
    || ------------------------------------------------------------
    */
 
    // Declare a static query.
    $sql = "UPDATE   member\n"
         . "SET      member_type = ?\n"
         . ",        credit_card_number = ?\n"
         . ",        credit_card_type = ?\n"
         . "WHERE    account_number = ?\n";
 
    /* Prepare statement.
    || ------------------------------------------------------------
    ||  Please note that the bind_param method is a position 
    ||  rather than named notation, which means you must provide
    ||  the variables in the same order as they are found in
    ||  the defined $sql variable as "?".
    || ------------------------------------------------------------
    ||  print($sql);
    ||  print("Member Type:      [1][".$member_type."]\n");
    ||  print("Credit Card No:   [2][".$credit_card_number."]\n");
    ||  print("Credit Card Type: [3][".$credit_card_type."]\n");
    ||  print("Account Number:   [4][".$account_number."]\n");
    || ------------------------------------------------------------
    */
    if ($stmt->prepare($sql)) {
      $stmt->bind_param("ssss",$member_type,$credit_card_number,$credit_card_type,$account_number); } 
 
    // Attempt query and exit with failure before processing.
    if (!$stmt->execute()) {
 
      // Print failure to resolve query message.
      print $mysqli->error."<br />";
      print "Failed to resolve query ...<br />";
    }
    else {   
      /*  Manually commiting writes when you have disabled the
      ||  default auto commit setting, explained above.
      || ------------------------------------------------------------
      ||  You would add the following command to commit the 
      ||  transaction.
      ||  ------------------------------
      ||   $mysqli->commit();
      || ------------------------------------------------------------
      */
    }
  }
}
 
// Test case
update_member('US00011', '1006', '6011-0000-0000-0078', '1007');
?>

I put this logic in a function.php file. If you do the same, you can run the test case like this from the command line:

php function.sql

As always, I hope this helps.

Written by maclochlainn

September 14th, 2019 at 6:20 pm

Fedora LAMP Steps

without comments

I posted earlier in the year how to configure a Fedora instance to test PHP code on a local VM. However, I’ve got a few questions on how to find those posts. Here’s a consolidation with links on those steps:

  1. Go to this blog post and install the httpd and php libraries with the yum installer.
  2. In the same blog post as step 1 (you can put the sample PHP code into the /var/www/html directory for testing), connect to the yum shell and remove the php-mysql library and then install the mysqlnd library.
  3. Go to this blog post and install the php-gd libraries, which enable you to render PNG images stored as binary streams in MySQL.

As always, I hope that helps.

Written by maclochlainn

December 9th, 2015 at 9:44 am

LAMP php-gd Libraries

with one comment

Everything seemed complete after configuring my standalone MySQL instance to a LAMP installation, but last night I started playing with the image files. It turns out that I failed to install the php-gd library.

There’s very little feedback when you try to troubleshoot why you can’t read an image. In fact, the error message for reading the BLOB from MySQL was only available on the local Firefox browser:

The image "http://localhost/ConvertMySQLBlobToImage.php" cannot be displayed because it contains errors.

The fix requires root to install the php-gd library with the yum utility:

yum install php-gd

You’ll need to answer y to one question during the installation:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
mysql-connectors-community                                  | 2.5 kB  00:00     
mysql-tools-community                                       | 2.5 kB  00:00     
mysql56-community                                           | 2.5 kB  00:00     
pgdg93                                                      | 3.6 kB  00:00     
updates/20/x86_64/metalink                                  |  16 kB  00:00     
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-gd.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: libt1.so.5()(64bit) for package: php-gd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package t1lib.x86_64 0:5.1.2-14.fc20 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
================================================================================
 Package         Arch            Version                 Repository        Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 php-gd          x86_64          5.5.22-1.fc20           updates           89 k
Installing for dependencies:
 t1lib           x86_64          5.1.2-14.fc20           updates          164 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+1 Dependent package)
 
Total download size: 252 k
Installed size: 629 k
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/2): php-gd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                      |  89 kB  00:00     
(2/2): t1lib-5.1.2-14.fc20.x86_64.rpm                       | 164 kB  00:01     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              157 kB/s | 252 kB  00:01     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : t1lib-5.1.2-14.fc20.x86_64                                   1/2 
  Installing : php-gd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                  2/2 
  Verifying  : php-gd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                  1/2 
  Verifying  : t1lib-5.1.2-14.fc20.x86_64                                   2/2 
 
Installed:
  php-gd.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20                                                 
 
Dependency Installed:
  t1lib.x86_64 0:5.1.2-14.fc20                                                  
 
Complete!

After the installation, you can run the info.php program, which contains the following:

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<?php
  phpinfo();
?>

You’ll find the following gd library display in the result from the info.php program:

Linux_php_gd_library

After retesting, we get both large text and blob files displayed in the web page:

LAMPBlobTextPage

As always, I hope this helps others. Especially, those who are working with your LAMP stack implementation of images.

Written by maclochlainn

March 31st, 2015 at 6:20 pm

Fedora Install LAMP

with 11 comments

My students wanted an extra credit assignment, so I thought a LAMP configuration and test would be appropriate. The only problem was I hadn’t added it to their course VMware instance. So, here are the instructions to install Apache2, PHP, and MySQLi for a complete LAMP stack when MySQL is already installed.

The post builds on my Fedora Install of MySQL and MySQL Workbench on Fedora posts from last year. It also presumes that you’ve installed a studentdb database but you need to know how to do that let me know (but it hasn’t changed much from the example at the bottom of this old MySQL 5.1 blog post).

You install Apache2 with the following command as the root user, or with the sudo command as a sudoer-list user:

yum install httpd

The following displays the results of starting the yum utility to install httpd, and you need to reply with a y to complete the installation:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
mysql-connectors-community                                  | 2.5 kB  00:00     
mysql-tools-community                                       | 2.5 kB  00:00     
mysql56-community                                           | 2.5 kB  00:00     
pgdg93                                                      | 3.6 kB  00:00     
updates/20/x86_64/metalink                                  |  16 kB  00:00     
updates                                                     | 4.9 kB  00:00     
updates/20/x86_64/primary_db                                |  13 MB  00:04     
(1/2): updates/20/x86_64/updateinfo                         | 1.9 MB  00:02     
(2/2): updates/20/x86_64/pkgtags                            | 1.4 MB  00:01     
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.10-2.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: httpd-tools = 2.4.10-2.fc20 for package: httpd-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: system-logos-httpd for package: httpd-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package fedora-logos-httpd.noarch 0:21.0.1-1.fc20 will be installed
---> Package httpd-tools.x86_64 0:2.4.10-2.fc20 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
================================================================================
 Package                  Arch         Version              Repository     Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 httpd                    x86_64       2.4.10-2.fc20        updates       1.2 M
Installing for dependencies:
 fedora-logos-httpd       noarch       21.0.1-1.fc20        fedora         28 k
 httpd-tools              x86_64       2.4.10-2.fc20        updates        79 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+2 Dependent packages)
 
Total download size: 1.3 M
Installed size: 4.0 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/3): fedora-logos-httpd-21.0.1-1.fc20.noarch.rpm          |  28 kB  00:00     
(2/3): httpd-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64.rpm                       | 1.2 MB  00:01     
(3/3): httpd-tools-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64.rpm                 |  79 kB  00:00     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              815 kB/s | 1.3 MB  00:01     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : httpd-tools-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64                             1/3 
  Installing : fedora-logos-httpd-21.0.1-1.fc20.noarch                      2/3 
  Installing : httpd-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64                                   3/3 
  Verifying  : httpd-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64                                   1/3 
  Verifying  : fedora-logos-httpd-21.0.1-1.fc20.noarch                      2/3 
  Verifying  : httpd-tools-2.4.10-2.fc20.x86_64                             3/3 
 
Installed:
  httpd.x86_64 0:2.4.10-2.fc20                                                  
 
Dependency Installed:
  fedora-logos-httpd.noarch 0:21.0.1-1.fc20  httpd-tools.x86_64 0:2.4.10-2.fc20 
 
Complete!

Next, you install php as the root user with the following command:

yum install php

The following displays when you install php, and you need to reply with a y to complete the installation:

Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
Resolving Dependencies
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php-common(x86-64) = 5.5.22-1.fc20 for package: php-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: php-cli(x86-64) = 5.5.22-1.fc20 for package: php-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-cli.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
---> Package php-common.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php-pecl-jsonc(x86-64) for package: php-common-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-pecl-jsonc.x86_64 0:1.3.6-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: /usr/bin/pecl for package: php-pecl-jsonc-1.3.6-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Processing Dependency: /usr/bin/pecl for package: php-pecl-jsonc-1.3.6-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-pear.noarch 1:1.9.5-6.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php-xml for package: 1:php-pear-1.9.5-6.fc20.noarch
--> Processing Dependency: php-posix for package: 1:php-pear-1.9.5-6.fc20.noarch
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-process.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
---> Package php-xml.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
Dependencies Resolved
 
================================================================================
 Package               Arch          Version               Repository      Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 php                   x86_64        5.5.22-1.fc20         updates        2.6 M
Installing for dependencies:
 php-cli               x86_64        5.5.22-1.fc20         updates        3.9 M
 php-common            x86_64        5.5.22-1.fc20         updates        1.0 M
 php-pear              noarch        1:1.9.5-6.fc20        updates        343 k
 php-pecl-jsonc        x86_64        1.3.6-1.fc20          updates         34 k
 php-process           x86_64        5.5.22-1.fc20         updates         77 k
 php-xml               x86_64        5.5.22-1.fc20         updates        247 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+6 Dependent packages)
 
Total download size: 8.2 M
Installed size: 32 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/7): php-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                         | 2.6 MB  00:03     
(2/7): php-cli-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                     | 3.9 MB  00:03     
(3/7): php-common-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                  | 1.0 MB  00:00     
(4/7): php-pear-1.9.5-6.fc20.noarch.rpm                     | 343 kB  00:00     
(5/7): php-pecl-jsonc-1.3.6-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm               |  34 kB  00:00     
(6/7): php-process-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                 |  77 kB  00:00     
(7/7): php-xml-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                     | 247 kB  00:00     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              1.1 MB/s | 8.2 MB  00:07     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : php-cli-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 1/7 
  Installing : php-process-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                             2/7 
  Installing : php-xml-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 3/7 
  Installing : 1:php-pear-1.9.5-6.fc20.noarch                               4/7 
  Installing : php-common-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                              5/7 
  Installing : php-pecl-jsonc-1.3.6-1.fc20.x86_64                           6/7 
  Installing : php-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                     7/7 
  Verifying  : php-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                     1/7 
  Verifying  : php-common-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                              2/7 
  Verifying  : php-cli-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 3/7 
  Verifying  : 1:php-pear-1.9.5-6.fc20.noarch                               4/7 
  Verifying  : php-process-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                             5/7 
  Verifying  : php-xml-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 6/7 
  Verifying  : php-pecl-jsonc-1.3.6-1.fc20.x86_64                           7/7 
 
Installed:
  php.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20                                                    
 
Dependency Installed:
  php-cli.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20        php-common.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20      
  php-pear.noarch 1:1.9.5-6.fc20        php-pecl-jsonc.x86_64 0:1.3.6-1.fc20   
  php-process.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20    php-xml.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20         
 
Complete!

After installing the software, you can set the Apache server to start automatically with the following command:

chkconfig httpd on

However, that command only starts the Apache server the next time you boot the server. You use the following command as the root user to start the Apache server:

apachectl start

You can verify the installation with the following command as the root user:

ps -ef | grep httpd | grep -v grep

It should return:

root      5433     1  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5434  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5435  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5436  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5437  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5438  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND
apache    5442  5433  0 17:03 ?        00:00:00 /usr/sbin/httpd -DFOREGROUND

and, then verify the listening port with the following command as the root user:

netstat -tulpn | grep :80

It should return the following when both the Apache server is listening on port 80 and the Oracle multi-protocol server is listening on port 8080:

tcp6       0      0 :::80                   :::*                    LISTEN      5433/httpd          
tcp6       0      0 :::8080                 :::*                    LISTEN      1505/tnslsnr

After verifying the connection, you can test it by creating the traditional info.php program file in the /var/www/http directory. The file should contain the following:

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<?php
  phpinfo();
?>

You can test it by opening the Firefox browser and entering the following URL from the Fedora Linux image:

http://localhost/info.php

It should display the typical diagnostic page. This verifies the configuration of the Apache and PHP servers. The next step verifies whether you have the mysqli library to connect to the MySQL database.

You create a mysqli_check.php script, like this:

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<html>
<header>
<title>Static Query Object Sample</title>
<style type="text/css">
  /* HTML element styles. */
  table {background:white;border-style:solid;border-width:3px;border-color:black;border-collapse:collapse;}
  th {text-align:center;font-style:bold;background:lightgray;border:solid 1px gray;}
  td {border:solid 1px gray;}
 
  /* Class tag element styles. */
  .ID {min-width:50px;text-align:right;}
  .Label {min-width:200px;text-align:left;}
</style>
</header>
<body>
<?php
  if (!function_exists('mysqli_init') && !extension_loaded('mysqli')) {
    print 'mysqli not installed.'; }
  else {
    print 'mysqli installed.'; }
?>
</script>
</body>
</html>

You can test it with the following URL from the local browser:

http://localhost/mysqli_check.php

If it’s installed you can skip the next step, but if not you need to run yum in expert mode as follows (the check for php-mysql isn’t really necessary because it’s too old a version but good practice):

[root@localhost etc]# yum shell
Loaded plugins: langpacks, refresh-packagekit
> remove php-mysql
No Match for argument: php-mysql
> install php-mysqlnd
> run
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-mysqlnd.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Processing Dependency: php-pdo(x86-64) = 5.5.22-1.fc20 for package: php-mysqlnd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64
--> Running transaction check
---> Package php-pdo.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20 will be installed
--> Finished Dependency Resolution
 
================================================================================
 Package             Arch           Version               Repository       Size
================================================================================
Installing:
 php-mysqlnd         x86_64         5.5.22-1.fc20         updates         293 k
Installing for dependencies:
 php-pdo             x86_64         5.5.22-1.fc20         updates         141 k
 
Transaction Summary
================================================================================
Install  1 Package (+1 Dependent package)
 
Total download size: 433 k
Installed size: 1.4 M
Is this ok [y/d/N]: y
Downloading packages:
(1/2): php-mysqlnd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                 | 293 kB  00:00     
(2/2): php-pdo-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64.rpm                     | 141 kB  00:00     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                              427 kB/s | 433 kB  00:01     
Running transaction check
Running transaction test
Transaction test succeeded
Running transaction (shutdown inhibited)
  Installing : php-pdo-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 1/2 
  Installing : php-mysqlnd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                             2/2 
  Verifying  : php-pdo-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                                 1/2 
  Verifying  : php-mysqlnd-5.5.22-1.fc20.x86_64                             2/2 
 
Installed:
  php-mysqlnd.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20                                            
 
Dependency Installed:
  php-pdo.x86_64 0:5.5.22-1.fc20                                                
 
Finished Transaction
> quit

You should note that this also installed PDO. One caveat, before you rerun the mysqli_check.php script from a browser, you need to restart the Apache server. You can do that as the root user with the following syntax:

apachectl restart

You can retest it with the following URL from the local browser:

http://localhost/mysqli_check.php

At this point you should have everything installed to test your connection the MySQL database. As mentioned, this example extends my instructions for installing MySQL on the Fedora instance.

The following query.php file tests your ability to connect to the MySQL database with the mysqli driver, and it uses the studentdb and video store example from my Oracle Database 11g and MySQL 5.6 Developer Handbook:

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<html>
<header>
<title>Static Query Object Sample</title>
<style type="text/css">
  /* HTML element styles. */
  table {background:white;border-style:solid;border-width:3px;border-color:black;border-collapse:collapse;}
  th {text-align:center;font-style:bold;background:lightgray;border:solid 1px gray;}
  td {border:solid 1px gray;}
 
  /* Class tag element styles. */
  .ID {min-width:50px;text-align:right;}
  .Label {min-width:200px;text-align:left;}
</style>
</header>
<body>
<?php
  // Assign credentials to connection.
  $mysqli = new mysqli("localhost", "student", "student", "studentdb");
 
  // Check for connection error and print message.
  if ($mysqli->connect_errno) {
    print $mysqli->connect_error."<br />";
    print "Connection not established ...<br />";
  }
  else {
 
    // Declare a static query.
    $query = "SELECT au.system_user_id, au.system_user_name FROM system_user au" ;
 
    // Loop through a result set until completed.  
    do {
 
      // Attempt query and exit with failure before processing.
      if (!$stmt = $mysqli->query($query)) {
 
        // Print failure to resolve query message.
        print $mysqli->error."<br />";
        print "Failed to resolve query ...<br />";
      }     
      else {
 
        // Print the opening HTML table tag.
        print '<table><tr><th class="ID">ID</th><th class="Label">User Role Name</th></tr>';
 
        // Fetch a row for processing.
        while( $row = $stmt->fetch_row() ) {
 
          // Print the opening HTML row tag.
          print "<tr>";
 
          // Loop through the row's columns.
          for ($i = 0;$i < $mysqli->field_count;$i++) {
            // Handle column one differently.
            if ($i == 0)
              print '<td class="ID">'.$row[$i]."</td>";
            else
              print '<td class="Label">'.$row[$i]."</td>";
          }
          // Print the closing HTML row tag.
          print "</tr>"; 
        }
      }
    } while( $mysqli->next_result());
 
  // Print the closing HTML table tag.
  print "</table>"; 
 
  // Release connection resource.
  $mysqli->close(); }
?>
</script>
</body>
</html>

This should display the following in the browser:

FedoraConfigMySQLPHP

You can see how to open port 80 for the Apache server in this blog post. If you want to work with blob data types, you’ll also need to use yum to install the php-gd library. You can read my LAMP php-gd library blog post to learn how to install the libraries. As always, I hope a step-by-step approach without assumptions helps those learning MySQL.

Written by maclochlainn

March 28th, 2015 at 7:41 pm

Popular PHP Frameworks

with 2 comments

My students often ask me about popular PHP frameworks and MySQL approaches. I wish a PHP framework choice was as clear as a JavaScript framework, like AngularJS. Unfortunately, PHP frameworks aren’t that clear cut.

It seems that the most popular PHP frameworks are: Laravel (1st), Phalcon (2nd), and Symphony2 (3rd). I found the following graphic (from December 2013) that highlights popularity by percentage of the market (though I can’t guarantee its accuracy). As far as jobs go, on Dice.com only Laravel had more than 3 positions referring to the framework by name. There were actually 42 PHP developer positions that mention Laravel out of 2,115 PHP developer positions. So, it seems learning a specific framework for PHP doesn’t yet have much market appeal.

PHPFrameworkPopularity-1024x853

While learning the basics of PHP are generic, frameworks expedite process and control pattern implementation. My suggestion to students is to target three to five employers that use a specific framework and start learning how to use the framework. I’d like to get opinions from those in the field whether this is the best advice.

As to MySQL, I suggest they learn native Mysqli and MySQL PDO. Any other suggestions on that from readers? Thanks as always.

Written by maclochlainn

December 23rd, 2014 at 1:55 pm

Deprecated mysqli Functions

without comments

PHPDeprecation5_4

Having noticed the release of PHP 5.5.10 last week while I was speaking at UTOUG, I checked the deprecated mysqli functions web page. There weren’t any deprecated by 5.5. Unfortuantely, there were six mysqli functions deprecated in 5.3 and removed in 5.4. Unfortunately, many of my posted code examples use 5.2 or 5.3 where they would have worked. The deprecated mysqli functions are:

  • mysqli_bind_param
  • mysqli_bind_result
  • mysqli_client_encoding
  • mysqli_fetch
  • mysqli_param_count
  • mysqli_send_long_data

Unfortunately, that puts a lot of updates on my queue of things to do. I imagine it likewise imposes limits on those running commercially on PHP 5.3 or older that plan an upgrade.

It does remind me that I need to pay close attention to the deprecation of mysqli functions with each release. These are actually the largest change since PHP 5.0.

Written by maclochlainn

March 18th, 2014 at 12:28 pm

Posted in MySQL,mysqli,PHP

Tagged with , ,