Re: Hello, etc. - Mailing list pgsql-php

Hi, Sean...

I use Postgresql as the backend database for over 15 different domains (all
hosted from 1 Dell Poweredge 2450 Database Server + 3 Power.web servers),
serving a total of more than 300,000 page-views daily. Our largest databases
in this system number more than 40,000 records. Our combined userbase is
about 8,000. So far postgresql has proven *very* stable. I haven't had any
problem at all with any database crashing.

I should note that Postgres performance was pretty low on my first box,
which was a P2-450 with 128MB of RAM, which also hosted the web servers.
Once I put the database on its own dedicated server (which has 1GB of RAM),
it blazed like lightning.

Justin Long
www.strategicnetwork.org
www.livethecall.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Shaun Grannis" <granniss@msu.edu>
To: <pgsql-php@postgresql.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 19, 2000 2:54 AM
Subject: Hello, etc.


Hi,

Would like to ask a few questions. I have been assigned the task of
implementing a web front-end/database backend for a medical office. The
office has 36,000 patients and 25 doctors. Is postgres a reliable solution?
(I see posts from people saying that from time to time they have to reset
postgres due to connections timeouts, or other issues -- sorry I can't
recall specifics right now.) I'd like to hear about some real-world examples
with specifics regarding the size of the database, reliability, and backup
procedures.

I'd like to implement an open source solution, and PHP/Postgres/Apache is
very attractive (MySQL is excluded due to the lack of sub-selects). I used
PHP/Postgres/Apache 2 years ago for a small medical database for 12 users
and less than 1000 records. It worked well. I now return to the technology
to implement the above-mentioned system.

Perhaps I haven't looked hard enough, but I could not find a "How-to" on
compiling PHP for postgres/apache. I would think this is a common
combination, no? I'm going to post my ongoing experience with the process, I
find reading about others' experience educational. Based on the following
experience, I'm going to create a howto for compiling php/apache/postgres
from the tarballs. The RPM nonsense gets confusing, particularly with
RedHat-derived versions putting their files in different directories from
the standard install. (I'm on a Mandrake box right now)

Here's my adventure so far:

1) download rpms for mandrake from postgres mirror (mars.capital-data.com)

2) rpm -qip mod_php3-pgsql-3.0.17RC1-2mdkPG7.1686.rpm:
This is a dynamic shared object (DSO) for Apache that will add PostgreSQL
database support to PHP3.  If you need back-end support for PostgreSQL,
you should install this package in addition to the main mod_php3 package.

3) rpm -qip mod_php3-3.0.17RC1-2mdkPG7.i686.rpm:
The mod_php module enables the Apache web server to
understand and process the embedded PHP language in web pages.
This package contains PHP3, or PHP version 3.0.17RC1.  If you use
applications which specifically rely on PHP/FI, you should instead
install the PHP/FI module contained in the mod_php package.
If you're just starting with PHP, you should install this package.
You'll also need to install the Apache web server.

4) attempt to install mod_php3-3.0.17RC1 with:
rpm -i mod_php3-3.0.17RC1-2mdkPG7.i686.rpm
WRONG ARCHITECTURE

5) Build my own

6) get source for php 4.0.2

7) tar xzvf php-4.0.2.tar.gz

8) sent email to Jouni Ahto, postgres extension maintainer "odd fixes",
after read EXTENSIONS file. (will php postgres work?)

9) Began reading INSTALL file in distribution

10) pre INSTALL, ran "httpd -l" to make sure "mod_so.c" was present,
indicating "mod_so" was enabled

11) per INSTALL, ran
$ ./configure --with-postgres --with-apxs

12) lex or flex was not present -- downloaded flex for mandrake 7.1 and
installed

13) again ran:
$ ./configure --with-mysql --with-apxs

./configure: apxs: command not found
configure: error: Sorry, I cannot run apxs. Either you need to install Perl
or you need to pass the
absolute path of apxs by using --with-apxs=/absolute/path/to/apxs

14) could not locate apxs script, ran find /|grep apxs to see if it's on the
system anywhere

15) apxs man page was there, but no apxs script -- wierd

16) download apache source (sucks cuz i already have mandrake apache rpm
installed) hope the apxs script is in the source code! took forever to find
a decent mirror.

17) unpack apache code: tar xzvf apache_1.3.12.tar.gz

18) found "apxs.pl" in apache dir ./src/support/apxs.pl

19) per php INSTALL file, ran this in the php-4.0.2 directory:
$ ./configure --with-postgres --with-apxs=../apache_1.3.12/src/support/

20) ERROR! in the apache distrbution, the apxs script (a perl script) is
named "apxs.pl" and the php script is looking for "apxs" -- so I rename the
apxs file . . .

21) i also noticed in my configure script output the following:
configure: warning: You will need bison if you want to regenerate the PHP
parsers.

so i download and install bison for mandrake

22) apxs is renamed, and the following is run again:
$ ./configure --with-postgres --with-apxs=../apache_1.3.12/src/support/
same ERROR!

23) I see apxs.pl is not set to execute mode, so I delete apxs, and run
"chmod +x apxs.pl" and rerun:
$ ./configure --with-postgres --with-apxs=../apache_1.3.12/src/support/

24) copy apxs.pl file to apxs, and rerun . . . .
$ ./configure --with-postgres --with-apxs=../apache_1.3.12/src/support/
EROR!

25) I look at the apxs script, and it refers to perl in /usr/local/bin/perl.
On my mandrake system, perl is located at /usr/bin/perl, so I edit the
script . . . and rerun

26) nothing's working. i see that autoconf is not installed, so i install
it. (and find out that m4 is also needed)

27) maybe i need the postgres source, too! download that.

28) my root/download folder looks like:
drwxr-xr-x    8 1078     1078         4096 Oct 11 00:46 apache_1.3.12/
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1709589 Feb 25  2000 apache_1.3.12.tar.gz
drwxrwxr-x   14 512      511          4096 Oct 11 01:27 php-4.0.2/
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      2088247 Oct 11 00:06 php-4.0.2.tar.gz
drwxr-xr-x    5 1005     96           4096 Jun  5 14:15 postgresql-7.0.2/
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      2338356 Jun  5 14:17
postgresql-7.0.2.base.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      2545529 Jun  5 14:16
postgresql-7.0.2.docs.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1322640 Jun  5 14:17
postgresql-7.0.2.support.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      7211311 Jun  5 14:16
postgresql-7.0.2.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1006213 Jun  5 14:17
postgresql-7.0.2.test.tar.gz

29) going back into the php-4.0.2/ directory: i now run
$
./configure --with-postgres=../postgresql-7.0.2/ --with-apxs=../apache_1.3.1
2/src/support/
NO GOOD!

30) let's try a diversion in to compiling postgres 7.0.2 . . . .

31) per INSTALL, create postgres superuser and passwd

32) ran config, had to install gcc-g++ for mandrake . . .

33) ran configure, then gmake . . .

34) followed the pgsql intructions and got postgres up and running -yay!

35) need to try to configure a static apache module, since dynamic (apxs) is
not working

36) entered configure command to make php with postgres and apache:
./configure --with-postgres --with-apache=../apache_1.3.12/ --enable-track-v
ars

37) Get an error in the config script:
configure: error: Invalid Apache directory - unable to find httpd.h under
/root/download/apache_1.3.12/apache_1.3.12

38) look in configure script: things look OK

39) Try configure again, this time without trailing "/":
./configure --with-postgres --with-apache=../apache_1.3.12 --enable-track-va
rs

40) This worked, but configures MySQL. I need to use the
option --with-pgsql:
./configure --with-pgsql --with-apache=../apache_1.3.12 --enable-track-vars

41) It again tells me at the end of the configure script output that I've
configured PHP for MySQL -- need to go to the Postgres maling list and see
if anyone is having the same prob:
| You chose to compile PHP with the built-in MySQL support.  If you  |
| are compiling a server module, and intend to use other server      |
| modules that also use MySQL                                        |

42) Started compiling anyway, but then decided to use the configure option
"--without-mysql" to see if I can get rid of the mysql code. It worked!

43) Apache compiled according to the instructions. (It's huge!!! 2.4 MB+!!)
However the apache binary looks for the config files on a different
directory than where they are currently installed. (I had done just a
standard mandrake rpm install of apache previously):
$ apachectl start
fopen: No such file or directory
httpd: could not open document config file /www/conf/httpd.conf
/usr/sbin/apachectl start: httpd could not be started

=======================

You guys get the picture.

Take care,

Shaun Grannis, MD
Diplomat, American Board of Family Practice