Windows, Nginx, MariaDB...and sometimes SQLServer

I have a couple projects at work that are quite different.

All are using PHP.

Some projects require connecting to MSSql (SQL Server).

Other projects are Drupal based.

I had been using XAMPP for awhile now, but knew I wanted to use Nginx on Windows, so I finally took the leap and got it running.


Here's a great stack to use for Windows, PHP, Nginx, XDebug, and MariaDB:  http://wpn-xm.org/


Now, in my case I needed to interface with a SQL Server database for other projects. The Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server are located here: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlserver/ff657782.aspx

BUT (at the time of this writing) PHP 32-bit is required for these SQL Server drivers, so make sure you download the correct package from WPN-XM. This was my "gotcha" that took awhile for me to get this running. I was getting "could not find driver" even though the correct versions were available.


I've got some more learning to do, but so far I've got multiple projects running with some accessing MSSQL and others MariaDB, all using Nginx and PHP. The speed difference compared to Apache is remarkably noticeable.

Also for my Drupal projects, I was able to do a simple export from MySQL and then an import into MariaDB. My Drupal sites needed no changes in-order-to run, other than a server config in the nginx.conf file.

Debugging PHP in NetBeans (in Ubuntu)

Here are the steps I used to setup PHP debugging in NetBeans (6.8 at the time of this writing) in Ubuntu 10.

sudo apt-get install php-pear
sudo apt-get install php5-dev
sudo apt-get install php5-xdebug



Edit your PHP INI settings
sudo nano /etc/php5/apache2/php.ini

Add the following lines under extensions:

zend_extension=/usr/lib/php5/the-folder/xdebug.so
xdebug.remote_enable=on

In my case it was ""/usr/lib/php5/20090626+lfs".  You will have to find the xdebug.so file in the correct folder.

Restart Apache
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart


NetBeans PHP Debug Settings

1. Goto tools->Options
2. Select PHP
3. On the General tab
   
4. If this is your first time configuring xdebug, you may want to keep "Stop at First Line" checked.  this way when you start debugging you should know right away that your setup is correct. 

Start Debugging

• Add some break points.
• Right-click your project and select Debug

CentOS 5.6 server setup

These are the guides and blog posts I use to setup LAMP on my new CentOS servers:

• Get a newer version of PHP
• http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/PHP_5.1_To_5.2
• Setup RPM Key
• cd /etc/pki/rpm-gpg
• wget http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/RPM-GPG-KEY-EPEL
• Setup YUM repo for Git
• http://www.davegardner.me.uk/blog/2010/01/29/setting-up-git-on-centos-5-server/#install
• Install Apache, MySQL, PHP
• http://library.linode.com/lamp-guides/centos-5

I typically install Webmin too, so I'll document that one in a bit.

Debugging PHP in NetBeans (in Windows)

Here are the steps I used to setup PHP debugging in NetBeans (7.0 at the time of this writing).

The way to do it:  http://xdebug.org/docs/install
You will need to download the correct php_xdebug from the xdebug.org site: http://xdebug.org/download.php

I downloaded the correct DLL for my environment and followed the install instructions.  Below are my final php.ini settings:

This extension is disabled
;extension=php_xdebug.dll


[XDebug]
;; Only Zend OR (!) XDebug
;zend_extension_ts="D:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug.dll"
zend_extension_ts = "D:\xampp\php\ext\php_xdebug-2.1.1-5.2-vc6.dll"
xdebug.remote_enable=true
xdebug.remote_host=127.0.0.1
xdebug.remote_port=9000
xdebug.remote_handler=dbgp
xdebug.profiler_enable=1
xdebug.profiler_output_dir="D:\xampp\tmp"


NetBeans PHP Debug Settings

1. Goto tools->Options
2. Select PHP
3. On the General tab
   

Zend PHP 5 Certification - ZCE - Zend.com

Zend PHP 5 Certification - ZCE - Zend.com: "Zend PHP Certification
Setting the Industry Standard for PHP Certifications
Sponsored by Zend and developed according to American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards, Zend Certification programs are designed to test a candidate’s level of knowledge in PHP or Zend Framework without prejudice to other technologies. The tests use a set of testing questions that reflect real-world scenarios, including knowledge in many areas ranging from basics to the more complex topics. The certification exam is executed for Zend by Pearson Vue."

I've been thinking about this for a short while. With a majority of my experience being Java, how do I convince someone that I can code in PHP. I'm not aware if there are Drupal certifications, but PHP might be a good start if that's where I want to head.

By convince, I mean that I can, but it's not really apparent. You have to either show some code samples or a certification.