====== Connect to Microsoft SQL Server with ODBC and PHP   ======

[[https://www.microsoft.com/en-IE/sql-server/sql-server-2017|Microsoft SQL Server ]]is a relational database management system developed by Microsoft. 

This article will describe how to set up unixODBC and PHP drivers to connect to MS SQL server.

===== Installing unixODBC =====

[[http://www.unixodbc.org/|unixODBC]] is an open source project that implements the ODBC API

Best way to install unixODBC is from [[https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.2/libraries/unixODBC/| slackbuilds.org]].

If you have [[https://github.com/sbopkg/sbopkg|sbopkg]] installed this is as easy as executing the below command:
<code> sbopkg -i unixODBC </code>

<note important>unixODBC conflicts with libiodbc in Slackware, so if you remove unixODBC, you will have to re-install libiodbc!</note>

===== Installing Microsoft OBDC Drivers =====

The official ODBC Drivers can be downloaded from Microsoft: [[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/connect/odbc/download-odbc-driver-for-sql-server|download link]]

==== Microsoft ODBC Driver 13.1 ====
The version that i've tried and works was the Debian 8 packages

  * **msodbcsql** [[https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/8/prod/pool/main/m/msodbcsql/]] 
  * **mssql-tools** [[https://packages.microsoft.com/debian/8/prod/pool/main/m/mssql-tools/]]

I've installed them by extracting the deb files using 7z and then copying the contents into the same temporary directory to allow me to create a package using makepkg. 


===== OBDC Configuration =====

**/etc/odbcinst.ini**
<code>
[ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server]
Description=Microsoft ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server
Driver=/opt/microsoft/msodbcsql/lib64/libmsodbcsql-13.1.so.6.0
</code>

**/etc/odbc.ini**
<code>
[mssql]
Driver=ODBC Driver 13 for SQL Server
Server=tcp:YOUR_SERVER_NAME_OR_IP_ADDRESS
Database=YOUR_DATABASE
</code>






===== Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server =====

The drivers are only supported on PHP7+, so the assumption is that you are either on Slackware64-current (>=2018) or you have built and installed PHP7 manually.

The easiest way to install the drivers are to use PECL

<code>
pecl install sqlsrv
pecl install pdo_sqlsrv
</code>

Alternatively you can get the official drivers from github and build it yourself: [[https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql]]

Check the installation using **php -i|grep "sqlsrv support"**  you should see something like this:

<code>
bash-4.4$ php -i|grep "sqlsrv support"
pdo_sqlsrv support => enabled
sqlsrv support => enabled
</code>


{{tag>howtos software database sqlsrv mssql microsoft_sql_server odbc unixodbc author_feri}}