Connect PHP to MSSQL via PDO ODBC

Question

When I execute this code:

print_r(PDO::getAvailableDrivers()); 

It says I have the odbc driver available.

Array ( [0] => mysql [1] => odbc [2] => sqlite )

However, when I try to use it like so:

$handle = new PDO("odbc:Server=dbServerIpAddress,myportnumber;Database=mydatabase", "myusername", 'mypassword');

It doesn't do anything - no errors and it doesn't work at all. It won't even execute past that line!

How can I connect PHP to this MSSQL database via PDO and ODBC?

Answer 1

There are several configuration files you need to have set up. /etc/odbc.ini, /etc/odbcinst.ini and /etc/freetds/freetds.conf (these locations are valid for Ubuntu 12.04 and probably correct for most *nixes).

You'll need to install unixodbc and freetds (not sure what the package names are on CentOS). In Ubuntu this would be apt-get install unixodbc tdsodbc.

For help installing these, look at this question Can't Install FreeTDS via Yum Package Manager

/etc/odbc.ini (this file may be empty)

# Define a connection to a Microsoft SQL server
# The Description can be whatever we want it to be.
# The Driver value must match what we have defined in /etc/odbcinst.ini
# The Database name must be the name of the database this connection will connect to.
# The ServerName is the name we defined in /etc/freetds/freetds.conf
# The TDS_Version should match what we defined in /etc/freetds/freetds.conf
[mssql]
Description             = MSSQL Server
Driver                  = freetds
Database                = XXXXXX
ServerName              = MSSQL
TDS_Version             = 7.1

/etc/odbcinst.ini

# Define where to find the driver for the Free TDS connections.
# Make sure you use the right driver (32-bit or 64-bit).
[freetds]
Description = MS SQL database access with Free TDS
Driver      = /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
#Driver      = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
Setup       = /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/odbc/libtdsS.so
UsageCount  = 1

/etc/freetds/freetds.conf (or you may find it at /etc/freetds.conf)

# The basics for defining a DSN (Data Source Name)
# [data_source_name]
#       host = <hostname or IP address>
#       port = <port number to connect to - probably 1433>
#       tds version = <TDS version to use - probably 8.0>

# Define a connection to the Microsoft SQL Server
[mssql]
    host = XXXXXX
    port = 1433
    tds version = 7.1

You may have to change the tds version = 7.1 line above depending on your version of MSSQL.

You will have to restart apache after you've made these changes.

In your PHP code you'll create your PDO object like this:

$pdo = new PDO("dblib:host=mssql;dbname=$dbname", "$dbuser","$dbpwd");

Note that your username may need to be in the format: domain\username.

Also, you will know that it worked if you execute phpinfo() in your page and search for "freetds" which will show an mssql section with freetds listed as the Library Version.