MoodleDocs - User contributions [en]

External database enrolment

2011-10-06T12:31:04Z

BenGraham: /* Setting It Up (Howto) */

{{Enrolment}}
Location: External database edit settings link in ''Settings > Site administration > Plugins > Enrolments > Manage enrol plugins''

You may use a external database (of nearly any kind) to control your enrolments. It is assumed your external database contains a field containing a course ID, a field containing a user ID, and optionally a field containing a role. These are compared against fields that you choose in the local course, user tables, and role tables.

The following are the supported data sources, but note that you will need to have to compiled PHP with the appropriate options or through [[ODBC]].

*access
*ado
*mssql
*borland_ibase
*csv
*db2
*fbsql
*firebird
*ibase
*informix72
*informix
*mysql
*mysqlt
*oci805
*oci8
*oci8po
*odbc
*odbc_mssql
*odbc_oracle
*oracle
*postgres64
*postgres7
*postgres
*proxy
*sqlanywhere
*sybase
*vfp

== Enrolment & Unenrolment ==

External database enrolment happens at the moment when a user logs into Moodle. The plugin will attempt to automatically enrol the student in all their courses according to the data in the external database and, optionally, create empty courses where they do not already exist. To check if it is working, you can log in as a student and then check that their list of courses is as you would expect.

The process also unenrols users from courses if they are no longer in the database. User records are marked according to their original enrolment method. Therefore the external database plugin can only unenrol users who were enroled by the plugin in the first place.

== Hidden Courses ==

Courses that are set to "Course is not available to students" can be ignored for enrolment purposes by setting the "enrol_db_ignorehiddencourse" to '''yes'''.

== Enrolment & Roles ==

The "enrol_db_defaultcourseroleid" setting in the plugin settings page specifies the role that the user will take when they are added to the course. The default setting will set them to the course default setting (initially "student"). However, you can specify a field in the external table (specified in the "enrol_db_remoterolefield" setting) that contains the short name for the user's role. This could, for example, be used to enrol both students and teachers into courses using a suitably configured database.

== Creating Courses ==

Optionally courses that do not exist in the Moodle site can be created. Switch the "enrol_db_autocreate" option to "yes" in the plugin settings. You can additionally specify the Category into which the new course will be placed and may also specify a "template" course from which the new course will be copied.

== Synchronization Script ==

A script is provided that can synchronize all your user enrollments at once - both adding and removing user enrolments (and creating courses if specified). The script is called enrol_database_sync.php and is found in the enrol/database folder.

This script is meant to be called from a system cronjob to sync moodle enrolments with enrolments in the external database. You need to make sure all the users present in the external enrolments are already created in moodle. If you are using external authentication plugins (db, ldap, etc.) you can use the scripts provided by those plugins to synchronize your users before running this script.

Example cron entry for Moodle 2.0
# 5 minutes past 4am
5 4 * * * /usr/bin/php -c /path/to/php.ini /path/to/moodle/enrol/database/cli/sync.php

Notes:
* If you have a large number of enrolments, you may want to raise the memory limits by passing -d memory_limit=256M
* For debugging & better logging, you are encouraged to use in the command line: -d log_errors=1 -d error_reporting=E_ALL -d display_errors=0 -d html_errors=0
* This only works for users that already exist in your Moodle site (see comment above)

== Setting It Up (How to) ==

You will need to perform (as a minimum) the following steps to enable external database enrolment - only a single table is required in the database which contains a record for every user/course combination. If the table is large it is a good idea to make sure appropriate indexes have been created:

* Use an existing database or create a new one. Use an existing or create a new table with the following minimum fields:
** course identifier (to match unique course identifier in Moodle)
** user identifier (to match unique user identifier in Moodle)
** (optional) role identifier (to match unique role identifier in Moodle)
* Populate the database table. Each user/course combination to have a record in the table
* In Moodle, go to Site Administration => Courses => Enrolments, find External Database in the list and click Settings
* In the top panel, select the database type (make sure you have the necessary configuration in PHP for that type) and then supply the information to connect to the database.
* The middle panel creates the mapping between Moodle and the external database. The first three settings are for the local (Moodle) field names and the last three for the remote (external database) settings. They are in the same order.
** enrol_localcoursefield / enrol_remotecoursefield - in Moodle the name of the field in the course settings the uniquely identifies the course (e.g., idnumber). In the external database the name of the matching field.
** enrol_localuserfield / enrol_remoteuserfield - in Moodle the name of the field in the user profile that uniquely identified the user (e.g., idnumber). In the external database the name of the matching field.
** enrol_db_localrolefield / enrol_db_remoterolefield - (optional) in Moodle the name of the field in the role edit page the uniquely identifies the role (e.g., shortname). In the external database the name of the matching field.
* The Roles panel specifies the role that the user will get in the course if their role is not specified in the external database.
* The final panel enables auto creation of courses.
* Save changes, and then tick the box to enable external database enrolment.

== Database enrolment does not appear in the course enrolment drop down menu. Why? ==

The course enrolment drop down menu only lists [[Enrolment_plugins#Interactive_enrolment|'''interactive''' enrolment plugins]]. External database enrolment is not such a plugin, so it doesn't appear in the list. Similarly, the "Course Enrollable" setting (in the Course Settings) page also only applies to interactive enrolment plugins and has no effect on external database enrollment.

As of this writing, the only interactive enrolment plugins are ''manual'' (also know as ''internal''), ''paypal'' and ''authorize.net''.

== Field Mapping Example: ==
Choose your fields from the Moodle database:

*enrol_localcoursefield: A course identifier from mdl_course, e.g. "idnumber"
*enrol_localuserfield: A user identifier from mdl_user, e.g. "idnumber"
*enrol_localrolefield: (optional) A role identifier from mdl_role, e.g. "shortname"

Create a view in your external database which matches the chosen field values from Moodle:

*enrol_remotecoursefield: A matching course identifier from your external database table, e.g. "course_number"
*enrol_remoteuserfield: A matching user identifier from your external database table, e.g. "userid"
*enrol_remoterolefield: (optional) A matching role identifier from your external database table, e.g. "role_name"

== Potential Gotchas ==

* It almost goes without saying that the integrity of the external database is important. If data is missing from the database then there is a potential for users being unenrolled from some or all of their courses. The unenrollment process will remove them from any group assignments and also poll each module type to give the module the option of removing that user's data if appropriate (for example, however, forum posts are never deleted). It is therefore prudent that you take the utmost care to ensure that the data in the external bass is correct at all times.
* '''Minor Security Issue''' Consider that if the ID field you use to identify your students is editable by the students (in their profile), then there is a potential for them changing this to the id of another valid student and gaining access to resources that they should not. However, they will still appear as themselves, they cannot impersonate the other user or otherwise gain access to their resources.

==Errors and Diagnostics==

The plugin produces a number of diagnostic messages and/or errors which are recorded to the PHP error log (as defined in the php.ini file). In addition messages about courses that are in the database for the user but that do not exist in the Moodle site will only be produced if debugging is set to ALL or DEVELOPER.

==See also==
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=49475 MySQL enrolment plugin doesn't seem to work] forum discussion
*Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=74133 Someone explain external database enrolment, please??] forum discussion
*Example Setup [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Talk:External_database_enrolment#Example_External_Enrollment] Example Database Enrollment Setup

[[es:Matriculación Base de Datos Externa]]
[[fr:Base de données externe]]

Installing MSSQL for PHP

2011-10-05T14:46:44Z

BenGraham: /* See Also */

== Introduction ==

This short manual is suitable if you are trying to run Moodle using the SQL*Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. Steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

Some of this may also apply if you wish to access an MSSQL server for external db authentication/enrollment.

First of all, minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilised to MSSQL 2005 (v.9), although it '''might work with MSSQL 2000 (v.8) or newer'''. All the development process has been performed using MSSQL 2005 and there could be some '''unknown problems''' with previous releases.

While PHP comes with one, more or less, standard extension (mssql) that provides access to MSSQL databases, early we found some hard limits on it. Basically such default extension has some limits that prevent us to use it at all (you can find more info about these problems [[Development:XMLDB problems#MSSQL, PHP, UTF-8 and UCS-2|here]]).

So, in order to allow PHP (i.e. Moodle) to access to MSSQL DBs properly we have to install a '''mssql extension alternative''' to save us from the problems related above. See the sections below for details about the various options.

== Installation overview ==

1. Get MSSQL Server installed and running. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free limited version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure that you choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. You'll be asked to define the "sa" account password (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Make sure MS SQL Server can accept incoming TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (the standard one).
:You might need to explicitly allow this in your Windows firewall (see the Control Panel). You may also need to edit options in the :'''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Open the "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database. If you are using the "sa" account then you don't need to do anything else here.

4. Configure these settings in your created (and still empty) database:

:* ANSI NULLS Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET ANSI_NULLS ON)
:* Quoted Identifiers Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON)
:* Moodle 2.0 only: Row Versioning Enabled (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON) - To set READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON (or OFF), there must be no active connections to the database except for the connection executing the ALTER DATABASE command. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522682.aspx

5. Get PHP installed with a web server. Unless you want to do it under IIS or some other way, the packages on the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle download page] are a good solution.

6. Choose one of the following specific sections for your server to install the '''mssql extension alternative''' installed and running properly on your PHP box.

7. Set the following settings in your php.ini file
:* mssql.textlimit = 20971520
:* mssql.textsize = 20971520

8. With all this properly configured, you can continue with a [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

== Using the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP from Microsoft on Windows ==
In July 2008 Microsoft [http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldriverforphp/thread/a10e5202-9e41-4ff8-a33e-fbcc7b951be2/ released] a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. This is a PHP extension that allows PHP scripts to read and write data on Microsoft SQL Server databases and it overcomes the problems with the native SQL Server extension that was previously bundled with PHP.

This Microsoft driver is the standard database layer for running Moodle 2 under Microsoft SQL Server databases. See [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]] the installation and configuration details.

This driver is only supported in Moodle 2.0 and up. You should use [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP#Using_FreeTDS_on_Windows FreeTDS] if you are installing an older version of Moodle.

See MDL-16497 and MDL-15093 for more background information.

== Using FreeTDS on Windows ==

'''Important Note 1:''' Due to some previous bugs it's highly recommendable to use PHP >= 5.2.6 and FreeTDS 0.82 + post-release patches ([http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 more info]).

If your web server is on Windows, use '''php_dblib.dll'''. Despite the name, it's FreeTDS compiled for Windows. (Go to this page for information on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS Using FreeTDS for Unix].)

Originally we were using the DLLs available at [http://kromann.info/article.php?Id=11062598797760000 Frank Kromann's site], but they are outdated (using old versions of FreeTDS) and that has caused [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 some problems] in the past.

So, right now, the recommended way to use FreeTDS under Windows is to use PHP 5.2.x following the following instructions:

1. Download the appropriate copy of php_dblib.dll from the list below, and save it into your /PHP/ext directory.

{| border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! PHP version !! [http://www.iis-aid.com/articles/my_word/difference_between_php_thread_safe_and_non_thread_safe_binaries Thread Safe] !! FreeTDS version !! Download URL
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.2.x (vc6) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.3.x (vc9) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| colspan="4" | Thanks to [http://remote-learner.net/ Remote-Learner]] (Moodle [http://moodle.com/partners/ Partner]) and specially to Bryan Williams, donating one Visual C++ 6.0 Pro license to Moodle. Thanks to Trevor Johnson and his builds of the dblib extensions. Thanks to Daniele, Doug, Luis, Sean and many others by their collaboration in MDL-14725. Thanks to Frediano Ziglio and James K. Lowden from [http://freetds.org freetds.org] by their support. Thanks to Alastair Hole by providing the PHP 5.3 builds of the libraries. Thanks!
|}

(alternatively here you can find some [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|instructions to build those freetds extensions under win32]] yourself)

2. FreeTDS requires the .NET Framework v1.1 to be installed. You can [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en download it from the Microsoft website] along with its [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en service pack]. Alternatively, if you do not wish to install this framework, you can [http://kromann.info/ms-libs/msvcr71.dll download the required DLL] from Frank's site, and save it into your /PHP root directory.

3. Edit your /PHP/php.ini file and add this line:

extension=php_dblib.dll

Make sure that any lines referring to the php_mssql.dll extension are DISABLED (commented out).

4. When the PHP engine loads the FreeTDS extension it needs to be passed certain infiormation in order to be able to connect to your Moodle database. To retrieve this information FreeTDS looks for a file called '''freetds.conf''' in the root folder of the server that PHP installed on (e.g. C:\).

'''freetds.conf''' should have the following structure:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

If you want to connect to a particular [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174516(SQL.80).aspx instance] of MSSQL you should specify the instance name:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
instance = xxx (instance name, e.g. INST2)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

'''Notes:'''
*You can configure FreeTDS to look for the freetds.conf file in any directory that you want - you don't have to use C:\. To do this create a SYSTEM environment variable called '''FREETDS''' and point it to the directory where you have installed the freetds.conf file. If you do not set this environment variable FreeTDS will look for the freetds.conf file in the C:\ folder, which is the default. One possible benefit of setting the FREETDS environment variable and using a different installation directory for freetds.conf is that C:\ is very predictable to a hacker that knows anything about FreeTDS and that is the first place that he would look if he wanted to compromise your system. So, using a different installation directory would just make your system stronger. See the FreeTDS [http://www.freetds.org/userguide/envvar.htm Setting the environment variables] documentation for more information about this FREETDS environment variable.

*Alternatively, you can [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|recompile]] the FreeTDS extension yourself and change the default location to your preferred location at compile time. Then it is not necessary to create any environment variable. You must just ensure that freetds.conf is in the same folder that you specify when you compile php_dblib.dll.

*MSSQL is usually installed with port 1433 as the default. However, if the port was changed on your server when you installed MSSQL then you need to specify the correct port number.

5. Your Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:

<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'mssql_n'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // assuming MS SQL is on the same server, otherwise use an IP
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // or whatever you called the database you created
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // I usually use the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; //Prefix, you can change it, but NEVER leave it blank.
</code>

If you don't have a config.php file yet, it can be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively you can use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create your own config.php file.

6. Restart or start your web server. If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, please turn display_startup_errors to "On" in your /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

7. Database conection test, try this PHP script, just put in a text file called test.php change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to suite your setup, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php)...

<code php>
<?php
$link = mssql_connect('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password');
if(!$link) {
echo'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . mssql_error());
}
echo'Successful connection';
mssql_close($link);
?>
</code>

8. Install Moodle as usual. Good luck!

=== Troubleshooting ===
If you encounter some problems you can try:
*check that you have DotNet framework 1.1 installed (later version are installed on Vista, but you could need this specific one) 
*enable TCP/IP for MSSQL: SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER -> TCP/IP (Enable) -> Properties -> Ip Addresses -> 127.0.0.1 (Active+Enable) 
*make sure the SQL Server Browser service is running SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> SQL Server Services 
*if you are using SQL Server 2005 and you have the error ''4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7 or earlier'', try the ODBTP method (next chapter). The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and DB-Library :(

== FreeTDS on Linux (on Ubuntu by compiling an mssql.so extension) ==
This is a good read to [http://www.robert-gonzalez.com/2009/02/18/building-the-php-ms-sql-server-extension-from-source-on-ubuntu-810/ building a FreeTDS based mssql extension for apache on Ubuntu]. Do note that [http://www.freetds.org/news.html freeTDS] 0.91 was recently released, you can find latest versions [http://freetds.sourceforge.net/ here].

Note: the freetds.conf file you use should have "text size = 20971520" as mentioned in the FreeTDS on Windows section otherwise you might see sessions logging out or worse apache segmentation faults. Also see [[FreeTDS]].

== Using FreeTDS on Debian Lenny ==
I found the following solution using:
* PHP Version 5.2.6-1+lenny9
* Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, version: 9.00.4053.00
<pre>apt-get install libsybdb5 freetds-common php5-sybase
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart</pre>
At the end of the process, if all goes fine, you will find in the mssql section of phpinfo();

{| class="nicetable"
|-
! MSSQL Support
! enabled
|-
| Library version
| FreeTDS
|}

Once FreeTDS is correctly installed, don not forget to set it up following explanations in https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS

== See Also ==
* FreeTDS for Windows is obsolete and too slow as of 2011. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987 Hardware and Performance Forum]
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]
[[Category:SQL databases]]

Installing MSSQL for PHP

2011-10-05T14:46:03Z

BenGraham: /* See Also */

== Introduction ==

This short manual is suitable if you are trying to run Moodle using the SQL*Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. Steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

Some of this may also apply if you wish to access an MSSQL server for external db authentication/enrollment.

First of all, minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilised to MSSQL 2005 (v.9), although it '''might work with MSSQL 2000 (v.8) or newer'''. All the development process has been performed using MSSQL 2005 and there could be some '''unknown problems''' with previous releases.

While PHP comes with one, more or less, standard extension (mssql) that provides access to MSSQL databases, early we found some hard limits on it. Basically such default extension has some limits that prevent us to use it at all (you can find more info about these problems [[Development:XMLDB problems#MSSQL, PHP, UTF-8 and UCS-2|here]]).

So, in order to allow PHP (i.e. Moodle) to access to MSSQL DBs properly we have to install a '''mssql extension alternative''' to save us from the problems related above. See the sections below for details about the various options.

== Installation overview ==

1. Get MSSQL Server installed and running. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free limited version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure that you choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. You'll be asked to define the "sa" account password (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Make sure MS SQL Server can accept incoming TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (the standard one).
:You might need to explicitly allow this in your Windows firewall (see the Control Panel). You may also need to edit options in the :'''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Open the "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database. If you are using the "sa" account then you don't need to do anything else here.

4. Configure these settings in your created (and still empty) database:

:* ANSI NULLS Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET ANSI_NULLS ON)
:* Quoted Identifiers Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON)
:* Moodle 2.0 only: Row Versioning Enabled (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON) - To set READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON (or OFF), there must be no active connections to the database except for the connection executing the ALTER DATABASE command. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522682.aspx

5. Get PHP installed with a web server. Unless you want to do it under IIS or some other way, the packages on the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle download page] are a good solution.

6. Choose one of the following specific sections for your server to install the '''mssql extension alternative''' installed and running properly on your PHP box.

7. Set the following settings in your php.ini file
:* mssql.textlimit = 20971520
:* mssql.textsize = 20971520

8. With all this properly configured, you can continue with a [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

== Using the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP from Microsoft on Windows ==
In July 2008 Microsoft [http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldriverforphp/thread/a10e5202-9e41-4ff8-a33e-fbcc7b951be2/ released] a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. This is a PHP extension that allows PHP scripts to read and write data on Microsoft SQL Server databases and it overcomes the problems with the native SQL Server extension that was previously bundled with PHP.

This Microsoft driver is the standard database layer for running Moodle 2 under Microsoft SQL Server databases. See [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]] the installation and configuration details.

This driver is only supported in Moodle 2.0 and up. You should use [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP#Using_FreeTDS_on_Windows FreeTDS] if you are installing an older version of Moodle.

See MDL-16497 and MDL-15093 for more background information.

== Using FreeTDS on Windows ==

'''Important Note 1:''' Due to some previous bugs it's highly recommendable to use PHP >= 5.2.6 and FreeTDS 0.82 + post-release patches ([http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 more info]).

If your web server is on Windows, use '''php_dblib.dll'''. Despite the name, it's FreeTDS compiled for Windows. (Go to this page for information on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS Using FreeTDS for Unix].)

Originally we were using the DLLs available at [http://kromann.info/article.php?Id=11062598797760000 Frank Kromann's site], but they are outdated (using old versions of FreeTDS) and that has caused [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 some problems] in the past.

So, right now, the recommended way to use FreeTDS under Windows is to use PHP 5.2.x following the following instructions:

1. Download the appropriate copy of php_dblib.dll from the list below, and save it into your /PHP/ext directory.

{| border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! PHP version !! [http://www.iis-aid.com/articles/my_word/difference_between_php_thread_safe_and_non_thread_safe_binaries Thread Safe] !! FreeTDS version !! Download URL
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.2.x (vc6) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.3.x (vc9) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| colspan="4" | Thanks to [http://remote-learner.net/ Remote-Learner]] (Moodle [http://moodle.com/partners/ Partner]) and specially to Bryan Williams, donating one Visual C++ 6.0 Pro license to Moodle. Thanks to Trevor Johnson and his builds of the dblib extensions. Thanks to Daniele, Doug, Luis, Sean and many others by their collaboration in MDL-14725. Thanks to Frediano Ziglio and James K. Lowden from [http://freetds.org freetds.org] by their support. Thanks to Alastair Hole by providing the PHP 5.3 builds of the libraries. Thanks!
|}

(alternatively here you can find some [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|instructions to build those freetds extensions under win32]] yourself)

2. FreeTDS requires the .NET Framework v1.1 to be installed. You can [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en download it from the Microsoft website] along with its [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en service pack]. Alternatively, if you do not wish to install this framework, you can [http://kromann.info/ms-libs/msvcr71.dll download the required DLL] from Frank's site, and save it into your /PHP root directory.

3. Edit your /PHP/php.ini file and add this line:

extension=php_dblib.dll

Make sure that any lines referring to the php_mssql.dll extension are DISABLED (commented out).

4. When the PHP engine loads the FreeTDS extension it needs to be passed certain infiormation in order to be able to connect to your Moodle database. To retrieve this information FreeTDS looks for a file called '''freetds.conf''' in the root folder of the server that PHP installed on (e.g. C:\).

'''freetds.conf''' should have the following structure:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

If you want to connect to a particular [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174516(SQL.80).aspx instance] of MSSQL you should specify the instance name:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
instance = xxx (instance name, e.g. INST2)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

'''Notes:'''
*You can configure FreeTDS to look for the freetds.conf file in any directory that you want - you don't have to use C:\. To do this create a SYSTEM environment variable called '''FREETDS''' and point it to the directory where you have installed the freetds.conf file. If you do not set this environment variable FreeTDS will look for the freetds.conf file in the C:\ folder, which is the default. One possible benefit of setting the FREETDS environment variable and using a different installation directory for freetds.conf is that C:\ is very predictable to a hacker that knows anything about FreeTDS and that is the first place that he would look if he wanted to compromise your system. So, using a different installation directory would just make your system stronger. See the FreeTDS [http://www.freetds.org/userguide/envvar.htm Setting the environment variables] documentation for more information about this FREETDS environment variable.

*Alternatively, you can [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|recompile]] the FreeTDS extension yourself and change the default location to your preferred location at compile time. Then it is not necessary to create any environment variable. You must just ensure that freetds.conf is in the same folder that you specify when you compile php_dblib.dll.

*MSSQL is usually installed with port 1433 as the default. However, if the port was changed on your server when you installed MSSQL then you need to specify the correct port number.

5. Your Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:

<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'mssql_n'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // assuming MS SQL is on the same server, otherwise use an IP
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // or whatever you called the database you created
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // I usually use the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; //Prefix, you can change it, but NEVER leave it blank.
</code>

If you don't have a config.php file yet, it can be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively you can use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create your own config.php file.

6. Restart or start your web server. If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, please turn display_startup_errors to "On" in your /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

7. Database conection test, try this PHP script, just put in a text file called test.php change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to suite your setup, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php)...

<code php>
<?php
$link = mssql_connect('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password');
if(!$link) {
echo'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . mssql_error());
}
echo'Successful connection';
mssql_close($link);
?>
</code>

8. Install Moodle as usual. Good luck!

=== Troubleshooting ===
If you encounter some problems you can try:
*check that you have DotNet framework 1.1 installed (later version are installed on Vista, but you could need this specific one) 
*enable TCP/IP for MSSQL: SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER -> TCP/IP (Enable) -> Properties -> Ip Addresses -> 127.0.0.1 (Active+Enable) 
*make sure the SQL Server Browser service is running SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> SQL Server Services 
*if you are using SQL Server 2005 and you have the error ''4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7 or earlier'', try the ODBTP method (next chapter). The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and DB-Library :(

== FreeTDS on Linux (on Ubuntu by compiling an mssql.so extension) ==
This is a good read to [http://www.robert-gonzalez.com/2009/02/18/building-the-php-ms-sql-server-extension-from-source-on-ubuntu-810/ building a FreeTDS based mssql extension for apache on Ubuntu]. Do note that [http://www.freetds.org/news.html freeTDS] 0.91 was recently released, you can find latest versions [http://freetds.sourceforge.net/ here].

Note: the freetds.conf file you use should have "text size = 20971520" as mentioned in the FreeTDS on Windows section otherwise you might see sessions logging out or worse apache segmentation faults. Also see [[FreeTDS]].

== Using FreeTDS on Debian Lenny ==
I found the following solution using:
* PHP Version 5.2.6-1+lenny9
* Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, version: 9.00.4053.00
<pre>apt-get install libsybdb5 freetds-common php5-sybase
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart</pre>
At the end of the process, if all goes fine, you will find in the mssql section of phpinfo();

{| class="nicetable"
|-
! MSSQL Support
! enabled
|-
| Library version
| FreeTDS
|}

Once FreeTDS is correctly installed, don not forget to set it up following explanations in https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS

== See Also ==
* FreeTDS is obsolete and too slow as of 2011. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987 Hardware and Performance Forum]
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]
[[Category:SQL databases]]

Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP

2011-10-05T14:42:34Z

BenGraham: /* See Also */

{{Moodle 2.0}}
== Using the SQL Server Driver for PHP from Microsoft ==

== Introduction ==
This short manual is for running Moodle 2.0 (and upwards) using the Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. The steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

First of all, the minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilized to MSSQL 2005 (v.9).

== Installation overview ==
1. Install Microsoft SQL Server including SQL Server Management Studio. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure to choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. Define the "sa" account password when requested (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Configure Windows for MSSQL.
:By default, MSSQL listens to port 1433 for incoming TCP/IP connections and this port needs to be opened in the firewall. This is explicitly configured in the firewall installed (either Windows Firewall in the Control Panel or the configuration interface for other firewalls). If the port was changed when MSSQL was installed, then specify the correct port number to open in the firewall.
:Confirm the TCP/IP protocol is enabled in: '''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Create and configure a new database.
:Open "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database.
*Execute the following command to enable Row Versioning:

<code>
USE MASTER
GO
ALTER DATABASE <your-database-name> SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON
GO
</code>

4. Install PHP and a web server.
*PHP can be downloaded from [http://www.php.net/downloads.php www.php.net]
*If IIS is used as the web server, IIS 7.0 or later is recommended with [http://www.iis.net/download FastCGI and WinCache].

5. Install the SQL Server Driver for PHP.
:On the web server, install [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=ccdf728b-1ea0-48a8-a84a-5052214caad9 SQL Server Driver for PHP] (minimum version required is v1.1) including all the pre-requisites listed on the download page. Note: it is critical to install the SQL Server Native Access Client version documented on the download page of the SQL Server Driver for PHP.
:Configure PHP to use the appropriate SQLSRV driver. In php.ini, set the following:

For PHP 5.2.4 (or later)

<code>
[PHP_SQLSRV]
extension=php_sqlsrv_52_nts_vc9.dll
</code>

For PHP 5.3.2 (or later)

<code>
[PHP_SQLSRV]
extension=php_sqlsrv_53_nts_vc9.dll
</code>

The Microsoft documentation for the SQL Server Driver for PHP is available at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee229548(v=SQL.10).aspx

6. Install and configure Moodle.
:Continue with the [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

7. The Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:
<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'sqlsrv'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // Assuming that MSSQL is on the same server, otherwise
// use the actual name or IP address of your database server
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // The name of the newly created Moodle database
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // Usually the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = true;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; // The prefix can be changed per individual preferences,
// but NEVER leave this blank!
</code>

:If the config.php file doesn't exist, it will be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively, use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create a custom config.php file.

8. Restart or start your web server.
:If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, turn '''display_startup_errors''' to "On" in the /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

9. Test the database connection.
:Try this PHP script, just add a text file called test.php from the example below and change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to align with the config.php settings, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php).

<code php>
<?php
$link = sqlsrv_connect($this->dbhost, array('UID' => 'db_user', 'PWD' => 'db_password'));
if($link === FALSE) {
echo 'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . sqlsrv_errors(SQLSRV_ERR_ALL));
}
echo 'Successful connection';
sqlsrv_close($link);
?>
</code>

10. Complete the rest of the Moodle installation as usual.

== See Also ==
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Installing MSSQL for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]
* Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP solves major Moodle performance problems. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987 Hardware and Performance Forum]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]

Installing MSSQL for PHP

2011-10-05T14:39:48Z

BenGraham: /* See Also */

== Introduction ==

This short manual is suitable if you are trying to run Moodle using the SQL*Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. Steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

Some of this may also apply if you wish to access an MSSQL server for external db authentication/enrollment.

First of all, minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilised to MSSQL 2005 (v.9), although it '''might work with MSSQL 2000 (v.8) or newer'''. All the development process has been performed using MSSQL 2005 and there could be some '''unknown problems''' with previous releases.

While PHP comes with one, more or less, standard extension (mssql) that provides access to MSSQL databases, early we found some hard limits on it. Basically such default extension has some limits that prevent us to use it at all (you can find more info about these problems [[Development:XMLDB problems#MSSQL, PHP, UTF-8 and UCS-2|here]]).

So, in order to allow PHP (i.e. Moodle) to access to MSSQL DBs properly we have to install a '''mssql extension alternative''' to save us from the problems related above. See the sections below for details about the various options.

== Installation overview ==

1. Get MSSQL Server installed and running. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free limited version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure that you choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. You'll be asked to define the "sa" account password (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Make sure MS SQL Server can accept incoming TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (the standard one).
:You might need to explicitly allow this in your Windows firewall (see the Control Panel). You may also need to edit options in the :'''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Open the "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database. If you are using the "sa" account then you don't need to do anything else here.

4. Configure these settings in your created (and still empty) database:

:* ANSI NULLS Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET ANSI_NULLS ON)
:* Quoted Identifiers Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON)
:* Moodle 2.0 only: Row Versioning Enabled (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON) - To set READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON (or OFF), there must be no active connections to the database except for the connection executing the ALTER DATABASE command. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522682.aspx

5. Get PHP installed with a web server. Unless you want to do it under IIS or some other way, the packages on the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle download page] are a good solution.

6. Choose one of the following specific sections for your server to install the '''mssql extension alternative''' installed and running properly on your PHP box.

7. Set the following settings in your php.ini file
:* mssql.textlimit = 20971520
:* mssql.textsize = 20971520

8. With all this properly configured, you can continue with a [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

== Using the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP from Microsoft on Windows ==
In July 2008 Microsoft [http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldriverforphp/thread/a10e5202-9e41-4ff8-a33e-fbcc7b951be2/ released] a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. This is a PHP extension that allows PHP scripts to read and write data on Microsoft SQL Server databases and it overcomes the problems with the native SQL Server extension that was previously bundled with PHP.

This Microsoft driver is the standard database layer for running Moodle 2 under Microsoft SQL Server databases. See [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]] the installation and configuration details.

This driver is only supported in Moodle 2.0 and up. You should use [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP#Using_FreeTDS_on_Windows FreeTDS] if you are installing an older version of Moodle.

See MDL-16497 and MDL-15093 for more background information.

== Using FreeTDS on Windows ==

'''Important Note 1:''' Due to some previous bugs it's highly recommendable to use PHP >= 5.2.6 and FreeTDS 0.82 + post-release patches ([http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 more info]).

If your web server is on Windows, use '''php_dblib.dll'''. Despite the name, it's FreeTDS compiled for Windows. (Go to this page for information on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS Using FreeTDS for Unix].)

Originally we were using the DLLs available at [http://kromann.info/article.php?Id=11062598797760000 Frank Kromann's site], but they are outdated (using old versions of FreeTDS) and that has caused [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 some problems] in the past.

So, right now, the recommended way to use FreeTDS under Windows is to use PHP 5.2.x following the following instructions:

1. Download the appropriate copy of php_dblib.dll from the list below, and save it into your /PHP/ext directory.

{| border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! PHP version !! [http://www.iis-aid.com/articles/my_word/difference_between_php_thread_safe_and_non_thread_safe_binaries Thread Safe] !! FreeTDS version !! Download URL
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.2.x (vc6) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.3.x (vc9) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| colspan="4" | Thanks to [http://remote-learner.net/ Remote-Learner]] (Moodle [http://moodle.com/partners/ Partner]) and specially to Bryan Williams, donating one Visual C++ 6.0 Pro license to Moodle. Thanks to Trevor Johnson and his builds of the dblib extensions. Thanks to Daniele, Doug, Luis, Sean and many others by their collaboration in MDL-14725. Thanks to Frediano Ziglio and James K. Lowden from [http://freetds.org freetds.org] by their support. Thanks to Alastair Hole by providing the PHP 5.3 builds of the libraries. Thanks!
|}

(alternatively here you can find some [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|instructions to build those freetds extensions under win32]] yourself)

2. FreeTDS requires the .NET Framework v1.1 to be installed. You can [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en download it from the Microsoft website] along with its [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en service pack]. Alternatively, if you do not wish to install this framework, you can [http://kromann.info/ms-libs/msvcr71.dll download the required DLL] from Frank's site, and save it into your /PHP root directory.

3. Edit your /PHP/php.ini file and add this line:

extension=php_dblib.dll

Make sure that any lines referring to the php_mssql.dll extension are DISABLED (commented out).

4. When the PHP engine loads the FreeTDS extension it needs to be passed certain infiormation in order to be able to connect to your Moodle database. To retrieve this information FreeTDS looks for a file called '''freetds.conf''' in the root folder of the server that PHP installed on (e.g. C:\).

'''freetds.conf''' should have the following structure:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

If you want to connect to a particular [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174516(SQL.80).aspx instance] of MSSQL you should specify the instance name:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
instance = xxx (instance name, e.g. INST2)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

'''Notes:'''
*You can configure FreeTDS to look for the freetds.conf file in any directory that you want - you don't have to use C:\. To do this create a SYSTEM environment variable called '''FREETDS''' and point it to the directory where you have installed the freetds.conf file. If you do not set this environment variable FreeTDS will look for the freetds.conf file in the C:\ folder, which is the default. One possible benefit of setting the FREETDS environment variable and using a different installation directory for freetds.conf is that C:\ is very predictable to a hacker that knows anything about FreeTDS and that is the first place that he would look if he wanted to compromise your system. So, using a different installation directory would just make your system stronger. See the FreeTDS [http://www.freetds.org/userguide/envvar.htm Setting the environment variables] documentation for more information about this FREETDS environment variable.

*Alternatively, you can [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|recompile]] the FreeTDS extension yourself and change the default location to your preferred location at compile time. Then it is not necessary to create any environment variable. You must just ensure that freetds.conf is in the same folder that you specify when you compile php_dblib.dll.

*MSSQL is usually installed with port 1433 as the default. However, if the port was changed on your server when you installed MSSQL then you need to specify the correct port number.

5. Your Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:

<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'mssql_n'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // assuming MS SQL is on the same server, otherwise use an IP
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // or whatever you called the database you created
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // I usually use the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; //Prefix, you can change it, but NEVER leave it blank.
</code>

If you don't have a config.php file yet, it can be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively you can use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create your own config.php file.

6. Restart or start your web server. If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, please turn display_startup_errors to "On" in your /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

7. Database conection test, try this PHP script, just put in a text file called test.php change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to suite your setup, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php)...

<code php>
<?php
$link = mssql_connect('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password');
if(!$link) {
echo'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . mssql_error());
}
echo'Successful connection';
mssql_close($link);
?>
</code>

8. Install Moodle as usual. Good luck!

=== Troubleshooting ===
If you encounter some problems you can try:
*check that you have DotNet framework 1.1 installed (later version are installed on Vista, but you could need this specific one) 
*enable TCP/IP for MSSQL: SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER -> TCP/IP (Enable) -> Properties -> Ip Addresses -> 127.0.0.1 (Active+Enable) 
*make sure the SQL Server Browser service is running SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> SQL Server Services 
*if you are using SQL Server 2005 and you have the error ''4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7 or earlier'', try the ODBTP method (next chapter). The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and DB-Library :(

== FreeTDS on Linux (on Ubuntu by compiling an mssql.so extension) ==
This is a good read to [http://www.robert-gonzalez.com/2009/02/18/building-the-php-ms-sql-server-extension-from-source-on-ubuntu-810/ building a FreeTDS based mssql extension for apache on Ubuntu]. Do note that [http://www.freetds.org/news.html freeTDS] 0.91 was recently released, you can find latest versions [http://freetds.sourceforge.net/ here].

Note: the freetds.conf file you use should have "text size = 20971520" as mentioned in the FreeTDS on Windows section otherwise you might see sessions logging out or worse apache segmentation faults. Also see [[FreeTDS]].

== Using FreeTDS on Debian Lenny ==
I found the following solution using:
* PHP Version 5.2.6-1+lenny9
* Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, version: 9.00.4053.00
<pre>apt-get install libsybdb5 freetds-common php5-sybase
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart</pre>
At the end of the process, if all goes fine, you will find in the mssql section of phpinfo();

{| class="nicetable"
|-
! MSSQL Support
! enabled
|-
| Library version
| FreeTDS
|}

Once FreeTDS is correctly installed, don not forget to set it up following explanations in https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS

== See Also ==
* FreeTDS Appears to be obsolete and too slow as of 2011. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987 Hardware and Performance Forum]
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]
[[Category:SQL databases]]

Installing MSSQL for PHP

2011-10-05T14:39:22Z

BenGraham: /* See Also */

== Introduction ==

This short manual is suitable if you are trying to run Moodle using the SQL*Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. Steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

Some of this may also apply if you wish to access an MSSQL server for external db authentication/enrollment.

First of all, minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilised to MSSQL 2005 (v.9), although it '''might work with MSSQL 2000 (v.8) or newer'''. All the development process has been performed using MSSQL 2005 and there could be some '''unknown problems''' with previous releases.

While PHP comes with one, more or less, standard extension (mssql) that provides access to MSSQL databases, early we found some hard limits on it. Basically such default extension has some limits that prevent us to use it at all (you can find more info about these problems [[Development:XMLDB problems#MSSQL, PHP, UTF-8 and UCS-2|here]]).

So, in order to allow PHP (i.e. Moodle) to access to MSSQL DBs properly we have to install a '''mssql extension alternative''' to save us from the problems related above. See the sections below for details about the various options.

== Installation overview ==

1. Get MSSQL Server installed and running. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free limited version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure that you choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. You'll be asked to define the "sa" account password (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Make sure MS SQL Server can accept incoming TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (the standard one).
:You might need to explicitly allow this in your Windows firewall (see the Control Panel). You may also need to edit options in the :'''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Open the "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database. If you are using the "sa" account then you don't need to do anything else here.

4. Configure these settings in your created (and still empty) database:

:* ANSI NULLS Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET ANSI_NULLS ON)
:* Quoted Identifiers Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON)
:* Moodle 2.0 only: Row Versioning Enabled (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON) - To set READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON (or OFF), there must be no active connections to the database except for the connection executing the ALTER DATABASE command. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522682.aspx

5. Get PHP installed with a web server. Unless you want to do it under IIS or some other way, the packages on the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle download page] are a good solution.

6. Choose one of the following specific sections for your server to install the '''mssql extension alternative''' installed and running properly on your PHP box.

7. Set the following settings in your php.ini file
:* mssql.textlimit = 20971520
:* mssql.textsize = 20971520

8. With all this properly configured, you can continue with a [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

== Using the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP from Microsoft on Windows ==
In July 2008 Microsoft [http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldriverforphp/thread/a10e5202-9e41-4ff8-a33e-fbcc7b951be2/ released] a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. This is a PHP extension that allows PHP scripts to read and write data on Microsoft SQL Server databases and it overcomes the problems with the native SQL Server extension that was previously bundled with PHP.

This Microsoft driver is the standard database layer for running Moodle 2 under Microsoft SQL Server databases. See [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]] the installation and configuration details.

This driver is only supported in Moodle 2.0 and up. You should use [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP#Using_FreeTDS_on_Windows FreeTDS] if you are installing an older version of Moodle.

See MDL-16497 and MDL-15093 for more background information.

== Using FreeTDS on Windows ==

'''Important Note 1:''' Due to some previous bugs it's highly recommendable to use PHP >= 5.2.6 and FreeTDS 0.82 + post-release patches ([http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 more info]).

If your web server is on Windows, use '''php_dblib.dll'''. Despite the name, it's FreeTDS compiled for Windows. (Go to this page for information on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS Using FreeTDS for Unix].)

Originally we were using the DLLs available at [http://kromann.info/article.php?Id=11062598797760000 Frank Kromann's site], but they are outdated (using old versions of FreeTDS) and that has caused [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 some problems] in the past.

So, right now, the recommended way to use FreeTDS under Windows is to use PHP 5.2.x following the following instructions:

1. Download the appropriate copy of php_dblib.dll from the list below, and save it into your /PHP/ext directory.

{| border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! PHP version !! [http://www.iis-aid.com/articles/my_word/difference_between_php_thread_safe_and_non_thread_safe_binaries Thread Safe] !! FreeTDS version !! Download URL
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.2.x (vc6) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.3.x (vc9) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| colspan="4" | Thanks to [http://remote-learner.net/ Remote-Learner]] (Moodle [http://moodle.com/partners/ Partner]) and specially to Bryan Williams, donating one Visual C++ 6.0 Pro license to Moodle. Thanks to Trevor Johnson and his builds of the dblib extensions. Thanks to Daniele, Doug, Luis, Sean and many others by their collaboration in MDL-14725. Thanks to Frediano Ziglio and James K. Lowden from [http://freetds.org freetds.org] by their support. Thanks to Alastair Hole by providing the PHP 5.3 builds of the libraries. Thanks!
|}

(alternatively here you can find some [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|instructions to build those freetds extensions under win32]] yourself)

2. FreeTDS requires the .NET Framework v1.1 to be installed. You can [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en download it from the Microsoft website] along with its [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en service pack]. Alternatively, if you do not wish to install this framework, you can [http://kromann.info/ms-libs/msvcr71.dll download the required DLL] from Frank's site, and save it into your /PHP root directory.

3. Edit your /PHP/php.ini file and add this line:

extension=php_dblib.dll

Make sure that any lines referring to the php_mssql.dll extension are DISABLED (commented out).

4. When the PHP engine loads the FreeTDS extension it needs to be passed certain infiormation in order to be able to connect to your Moodle database. To retrieve this information FreeTDS looks for a file called '''freetds.conf''' in the root folder of the server that PHP installed on (e.g. C:\).

'''freetds.conf''' should have the following structure:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

If you want to connect to a particular [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174516(SQL.80).aspx instance] of MSSQL you should specify the instance name:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
instance = xxx (instance name, e.g. INST2)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

'''Notes:'''
*You can configure FreeTDS to look for the freetds.conf file in any directory that you want - you don't have to use C:\. To do this create a SYSTEM environment variable called '''FREETDS''' and point it to the directory where you have installed the freetds.conf file. If you do not set this environment variable FreeTDS will look for the freetds.conf file in the C:\ folder, which is the default. One possible benefit of setting the FREETDS environment variable and using a different installation directory for freetds.conf is that C:\ is very predictable to a hacker that knows anything about FreeTDS and that is the first place that he would look if he wanted to compromise your system. So, using a different installation directory would just make your system stronger. See the FreeTDS [http://www.freetds.org/userguide/envvar.htm Setting the environment variables] documentation for more information about this FREETDS environment variable.

*Alternatively, you can [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|recompile]] the FreeTDS extension yourself and change the default location to your preferred location at compile time. Then it is not necessary to create any environment variable. You must just ensure that freetds.conf is in the same folder that you specify when you compile php_dblib.dll.

*MSSQL is usually installed with port 1433 as the default. However, if the port was changed on your server when you installed MSSQL then you need to specify the correct port number.

5. Your Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:

<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'mssql_n'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // assuming MS SQL is on the same server, otherwise use an IP
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // or whatever you called the database you created
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // I usually use the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; //Prefix, you can change it, but NEVER leave it blank.
</code>

If you don't have a config.php file yet, it can be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively you can use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create your own config.php file.

6. Restart or start your web server. If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, please turn display_startup_errors to "On" in your /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

7. Database conection test, try this PHP script, just put in a text file called test.php change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to suite your setup, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php)...

<code php>
<?php
$link = mssql_connect('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password');
if(!$link) {
echo'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . mssql_error());
}
echo'Successful connection';
mssql_close($link);
?>
</code>

8. Install Moodle as usual. Good luck!

=== Troubleshooting ===
If you encounter some problems you can try:
*check that you have DotNet framework 1.1 installed (later version are installed on Vista, but you could need this specific one) 
*enable TCP/IP for MSSQL: SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER -> TCP/IP (Enable) -> Properties -> Ip Addresses -> 127.0.0.1 (Active+Enable) 
*make sure the SQL Server Browser service is running SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> SQL Server Services 
*if you are using SQL Server 2005 and you have the error ''4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7 or earlier'', try the ODBTP method (next chapter). The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and DB-Library :(

== FreeTDS on Linux (on Ubuntu by compiling an mssql.so extension) ==
This is a good read to [http://www.robert-gonzalez.com/2009/02/18/building-the-php-ms-sql-server-extension-from-source-on-ubuntu-810/ building a FreeTDS based mssql extension for apache on Ubuntu]. Do note that [http://www.freetds.org/news.html freeTDS] 0.91 was recently released, you can find latest versions [http://freetds.sourceforge.net/ here].

Note: the freetds.conf file you use should have "text size = 20971520" as mentioned in the FreeTDS on Windows section otherwise you might see sessions logging out or worse apache segmentation faults. Also see [[FreeTDS]].

== Using FreeTDS on Debian Lenny ==
I found the following solution using:
* PHP Version 5.2.6-1+lenny9
* Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, version: 9.00.4053.00
<pre>apt-get install libsybdb5 freetds-common php5-sybase
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart</pre>
At the end of the process, if all goes fine, you will find in the mssql section of phpinfo();

{| class="nicetable"
|-
! MSSQL Support
! enabled
|-
| Library version
| FreeTDS
|}

Once FreeTDS is correctly installed, don not forget to set it up following explanations in https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS

== See Also ==
* FreeTDS Appears to be obsolete and too slow in 2011. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987 Hardware and Performance Forum]
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]
[[Category:SQL databases]]

Installing MSSQL for PHP

2011-10-05T14:38:33Z

BenGraham:

== Introduction ==

This short manual is suitable if you are trying to run Moodle using the SQL*Server (MSSQL) RDBMS. Steps detailed below must be performed '''before''' installing Moodle itself.

Some of this may also apply if you wish to access an MSSQL server for external db authentication/enrollment.

First of all, minimum required version of MSSQL has been stabilised to MSSQL 2005 (v.9), although it '''might work with MSSQL 2000 (v.8) or newer'''. All the development process has been performed using MSSQL 2005 and there could be some '''unknown problems''' with previous releases.

While PHP comes with one, more or less, standard extension (mssql) that provides access to MSSQL databases, early we found some hard limits on it. Basically such default extension has some limits that prevent us to use it at all (you can find more info about these problems [[Development:XMLDB problems#MSSQL, PHP, UTF-8 and UCS-2|here]]).

So, in order to allow PHP (i.e. Moodle) to access to MSSQL DBs properly we have to install a '''mssql extension alternative''' to save us from the problems related above. See the sections below for details about the various options.

== Installation overview ==

1. Get MSSQL Server installed and running. ([http://www.microsoft.com/sql/editions/express/default.mspx A free limited version, SQL Server Express Edition] is available for testing.)
:Make sure that you choose mixed authentication (Windows and local accounts) to keep things simpler later. You'll be asked to define the "sa" account password (it's the default System Administrator account which has full access to all databases by default).

2. Make sure MS SQL Server can accept incoming TCP/IP connections on port 1433 (the standard one).
:You might need to explicitly allow this in your Windows firewall (see the Control Panel). You may also need to edit options in the :'''SQL Server Configuration Manager''' -> '''Network Configuration''' -> '''Protocols''' -> '''TCP/IP enabled'''

3. Open the "SQL Server Management Studio" and create a new empty database. If you are using the "sa" account then you don't need to do anything else here.

4. Configure these settings in your created (and still empty) database:

:* ANSI NULLS Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET ANSI_NULLS ON)
:* Quoted Identifiers Enabled = true (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON)
:* Moodle 2.0 only: Row Versioning Enabled (ALTER DATABASE xxxx SET READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON) - To set READ_COMMITTED_SNAPSHOT ON (or OFF), there must be no active connections to the database except for the connection executing the ALTER DATABASE command. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb522682.aspx

5. Get PHP installed with a web server. Unless you want to do it under IIS or some other way, the packages on the [http://download.moodle.org Moodle download page] are a good solution.

6. Choose one of the following specific sections for your server to install the '''mssql extension alternative''' installed and running properly on your PHP box.

7. Set the following settings in your php.ini file
:* mssql.textlimit = 20971520
:* mssql.textsize = 20971520

8. With all this properly configured, you can continue with a [[Installing Moodle|standard Moodle installation]].

== Using the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP from Microsoft on Windows ==
In July 2008 Microsoft [http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/sqldriverforphp/thread/a10e5202-9e41-4ff8-a33e-fbcc7b951be2/ released] a new SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP. This is a PHP extension that allows PHP scripts to read and write data on Microsoft SQL Server databases and it overcomes the problems with the native SQL Server extension that was previously bundled with PHP.

This Microsoft driver is the standard database layer for running Moodle 2 under Microsoft SQL Server databases. See [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]] the installation and configuration details.

This driver is only supported in Moodle 2.0 and up. You should use [https://docs.moodle.org/en/Installing_MSSQL_for_PHP#Using_FreeTDS_on_Windows FreeTDS] if you are installing an older version of Moodle.

See MDL-16497 and MDL-15093 for more background information.

== Using FreeTDS on Windows ==

'''Important Note 1:''' Due to some previous bugs it's highly recommendable to use PHP >= 5.2.6 and FreeTDS 0.82 + post-release patches ([http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 more info]).

If your web server is on Windows, use '''php_dblib.dll'''. Despite the name, it's FreeTDS compiled for Windows. (Go to this page for information on [https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS Using FreeTDS for Unix].)

Originally we were using the DLLs available at [http://kromann.info/article.php?Id=11062598797760000 Frank Kromann's site], but they are outdated (using old versions of FreeTDS) and that has caused [http://tracker.moodle.org/browse/MDL-14725 some problems] in the past.

So, right now, the recommended way to use FreeTDS under Windows is to use PHP 5.2.x following the following instructions:

1. Download the appropriate copy of php_dblib.dll from the list below, and save it into your /PHP/ext directory.

{| border="1" align="center" cellpadding="5" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! PHP version !! [http://www.iis-aid.com/articles/my_word/difference_between_php_thread_safe_and_non_thread_safe_binaries Thread Safe] !! FreeTDS version !! Download URL
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.2.x (vc6) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090302 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php52/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| rowspan="2" | PHP 5.3.x (vc9) || Yes || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_TS.zip Download!]
|-
| No || 0.82 + 20090904 patches || [http://download.moodle.org/download.php/dblib/php53/DBLIB_NOTS.zip Download!]
|-
| colspan="4" | Thanks to [http://remote-learner.net/ Remote-Learner]] (Moodle [http://moodle.com/partners/ Partner]) and specially to Bryan Williams, donating one Visual C++ 6.0 Pro license to Moodle. Thanks to Trevor Johnson and his builds of the dblib extensions. Thanks to Daniele, Doug, Luis, Sean and many others by their collaboration in MDL-14725. Thanks to Frediano Ziglio and James K. Lowden from [http://freetds.org freetds.org] by their support. Thanks to Alastair Hole by providing the PHP 5.3 builds of the libraries. Thanks!
|}

(alternatively here you can find some [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|instructions to build those freetds extensions under win32]] yourself)

2. FreeTDS requires the .NET Framework v1.1 to be installed. You can [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3&DisplayLang=en download it from the Microsoft website] along with its [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=a8f5654f-088e-40b2-bbdb-a83353618b38&DisplayLang=en service pack]. Alternatively, if you do not wish to install this framework, you can [http://kromann.info/ms-libs/msvcr71.dll download the required DLL] from Frank's site, and save it into your /PHP root directory.

3. Edit your /PHP/php.ini file and add this line:

extension=php_dblib.dll

Make sure that any lines referring to the php_mssql.dll extension are DISABLED (commented out).

4. When the PHP engine loads the FreeTDS extension it needs to be passed certain infiormation in order to be able to connect to your Moodle database. To retrieve this information FreeTDS looks for a file called '''freetds.conf''' in the root folder of the server that PHP installed on (e.g. C:\).

'''freetds.conf''' should have the following structure:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

If you want to connect to a particular [http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa174516(SQL.80).aspx instance] of MSSQL you should specify the instance name:

[global]
host = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (host name or ip of the MSSQL server)
instance = xxx (instance name, e.g. INST2)
port = 1433
client charset = UTF-8
tds version = 8.0
text size = 20971520

'''Notes:'''
*You can configure FreeTDS to look for the freetds.conf file in any directory that you want - you don't have to use C:\. To do this create a SYSTEM environment variable called '''FREETDS''' and point it to the directory where you have installed the freetds.conf file. If you do not set this environment variable FreeTDS will look for the freetds.conf file in the C:\ folder, which is the default. One possible benefit of setting the FREETDS environment variable and using a different installation directory for freetds.conf is that C:\ is very predictable to a hacker that knows anything about FreeTDS and that is the first place that he would look if he wanted to compromise your system. So, using a different installation directory would just make your system stronger. See the FreeTDS [http://www.freetds.org/userguide/envvar.htm Setting the environment variables] documentation for more information about this FREETDS environment variable.

*Alternatively, you can [[Development:Compiling FreeTDS under Windows|recompile]] the FreeTDS extension yourself and change the default location to your preferred location at compile time. Then it is not necessary to create any environment variable. You must just ensure that freetds.conf is in the same folder that you specify when you compile php_dblib.dll.

*MSSQL is usually installed with port 1433 as the default. However, if the port was changed on your server when you installed MSSQL then you need to specify the correct port number.

5. Your Moodle '''config.php''' should include lines like these:

<code php>
$CFG->dbtype = 'mssql_n'; // Required
$CFG->dbhost = 'localhost'; // assuming MS SQL is on the same server, otherwise use an IP
$CFG->dbname = 'moodle'; // or whatever you called the database you created
$CFG->dbuser = 'yourusername'; // I usually use the 'sa' account (dbowner perms are enough)
$CFG->dbpass = 'yourpassword';
$CFG->dbpersist = false;
$CFG->prefix = 'mdl_'; //Prefix, you can change it, but NEVER leave it blank.
</code>

If you don't have a config.php file yet, it can be generated as normal from the Moodle installer. Alternatively you can use the config-dist.php file that comes with the Moodle package to create your own config.php file.

6. Restart or start your web server. If Moodle still cannot communicate with the database server, please turn display_startup_errors to "On" in your /PHP/php.ini file, then restart the web server and check for any errors that may indicate incorrect DLL versions or missing dependencies. These error reports, turned off by default in PHP, can be vital in locating a problem with new extension installations.

7. Database conection test, try this PHP script, just put in a text file called test.php change ('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password') to suite your setup, and load from local host (http://localhost/test.php)...

<code php>
<?php
$link = mssql_connect('localhost', 'db_user', 'db_password');
if(!$link) {
echo'Could not connect';
die('Could not connect: ' . mssql_error());
}
echo'Successful connection';
mssql_close($link);
?>
</code>

8. Install Moodle as usual. Good luck!

=== Troubleshooting ===
If you encounter some problems you can try:
*check that you have DotNet framework 1.1 installed (later version are installed on Vista, but you could need this specific one) 
*enable TCP/IP for MSSQL: SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> Protocols for MSSQLSERVER -> TCP/IP (Enable) -> Properties -> Ip Addresses -> 127.0.0.1 (Active+Enable) 
*make sure the SQL Server Browser service is running SQL Server 2005 Network Configuration -> SQL Server Services 
*if you are using SQL Server 2005 and you have the error ''4004: Unicode data in a Unicode-only collation or ntext data cannot be sent to clients using DB-Library (such as ISQL) or ODBC version 3.7 or earlier'', try the ODBTP method (next chapter). The SQL Server complaining that it doesn't support pure Unicode via TDS or older versions of ODBC. Microsoft has deprecated DB-Library a long ago, in favor of ODBC, OLE DB, or SQL Native Client. Many new features of SQL 2005 aren't accessible via DB-Library so if you need them, you could have to switch away from tools based on TDS and DB-Library :(

== FreeTDS on Linux (on Ubuntu by compiling an mssql.so extension) ==
This is a good read to [http://www.robert-gonzalez.com/2009/02/18/building-the-php-ms-sql-server-extension-from-source-on-ubuntu-810/ building a FreeTDS based mssql extension for apache on Ubuntu]. Do note that [http://www.freetds.org/news.html freeTDS] 0.91 was recently released, you can find latest versions [http://freetds.sourceforge.net/ here].

Note: the freetds.conf file you use should have "text size = 20971520" as mentioned in the FreeTDS on Windows section otherwise you might see sessions logging out or worse apache segmentation faults. Also see [[FreeTDS]].

== Using FreeTDS on Debian Lenny ==
I found the following solution using:
* PHP Version 5.2.6-1+lenny9
* Microsoft SQL Server Enterprise Edition, version: 9.00.4053.00
<pre>apt-get install libsybdb5 freetds-common php5-sybase
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart</pre>
At the end of the process, if all goes fine, you will find in the mssql section of phpinfo();

{| class="nicetable"
|-
! MSSQL Support
! enabled
|-
| Library version
| FreeTDS
|}

Once FreeTDS is correctly installed, don not forget to set it up following explanations in https://docs.moodle.org/en/FreeTDS

== See Also ==
* FreeTDS Appears to be obsolete and too slow in 2011. See: [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=183987]
* [[Installing Moodle]]
* [[Errors FAQ]]
* Using Moodle [http://moodle.org/mod/forum/view.php?id=28 Installation problems forum]
* [[Beginning Administration FAQ]]
* [[Installing Postgres for PHP]]
* [[Using the Microsoft SQL Server Driver for PHP]]
* [[Installing Oracle for PHP]]

[[Category:FAQ]]
[[Category:Installation]]
[[Category:Developer]]
[[Category:XMLDB]]
[[Category:DB]]
[[Category:SQL databases]]