Pages that can be requested by a user are to be set in a dedicated directory named htdocs, to be found directly under the Apache home directory.

To run PHP scripts, you need also to install a PHP server, as described in 2. Installing PHP below.

1.1.1 Which installation package to choose

With Windows you can choose

1.1.2 Running the installation process

During the installation process, you will be requested to enter some informations:

1.1.3 Starting/stopping Apache

The Apache icon that appears on the task bar at the bottom of the screen can be used to stop it, and start again.

1.3.1 The htdocs directory

1.3.2 Requesting a file

http://server_name/file_path

http://server_name:80/file_path

80 is also the default port number assumed by Apache when it is generated as described above (more generally, 80 is the default port for HTTP communications.)

The complete code for the request is:

http://server_name:port_number/file_path

Example: http://php.hatayservices.com:4080/HPP/PHPInfo.php

Alias /alias_name "dir_path"

Alias /hpp "C:/books/PHP/samples"

http://host_id:port/hpp/

The installation steps are:

This terminates the installation of the basic PHP system.

After you have tested that the basic system works, you can proceed on to install the desired extensions. For example, the MySQL extension for database processing.

Installing from a binary package is the simpler course. This is described in the following.

We are going to install PHP 5 which by the time this document reaches you, will be largely stabilized. Moreover, from this version on, there are specific problems that did not exist in PHP 4, and we may wish to know how to tackle them in the future.

Two packages are to be use:

First, access the PHP home page at www.php.net. Clicking on the downloads keyword on the menu bar on top of the screen will get you to the download page.

Or you may go directly to this page at the address www.php.net/downloads.php (these sorts of addresses may change in the course of time).

Then look for the Windows Binaries. You want:
- the PHP 5 zip
- the PECL 5 zip
(not the installation zip)
As of the writing of this text, these are the packages:
- php-5.0.0-win32.zip
- pecl-5.0.2-win32.zip

In each case, click on the name, then choose the mirror to download from.

You can download the package anywhere, but it is advisable to do it in an orderly way. For example, into a directory dedicated to zip files, or to PHP connected downloads, etc...

You have to change to a path where the names don't contain space characters ('My documents' will not do). For example:

C:\SoftwareSystems\PHP\

You set on changing by clicking on the button labelled "Select different folder", or something alike. Then you can type the new path name into the entry field that contains the proposed path, on top of the screen. But it is easier to create the desired directory beforehand, and at this point, to navigate to it through the directory tree.

2.2.1 Unzipping the PHP package

C:\SoftwaresSystems\PHP

The structure of the PHP file system looks like this:

2.2.2 Unzipping the PECL package

So, unzip it into that directory. If you use Winzip, when the program proposes a path name, click on the Select different folder button to navigate to the ext directory.

As the modules php5ts.dll and apache2php5.dll are already in the same directory, namely the PHP Home directory, there is no need to do anything about this matter.

2.4.1 Using a distributed file

You can use the contents of the php.ini-dist file in the configuration file of a test PHP system. The contents of the php.ini-recommended file is to be used in the configuration file of a production PHP system.

Whichever file is chosen, just change its name to php.ini and use it.

When the distributed file is used as is, it defines a minimum configuration that does not have any of the extension function enabled.

2.4.2 Configuration directives

You can change some of the directives or add new ones to taylor the system to your needs.

The directives can be seen in the php.ini file. Please click here to see a sample that comes with the binary package distribution. Here are the comments on some of them:

echo %WINDIR%

This is usually the directory C:\Windows, in XP or 9x systems, or C:\WINNT in NT or 2000 systems.

You can give the read permission on php.ini to Everyone.

LoadModule php5_module "module_path"
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php

LoadModule php5_module "c:/SoftwareSystems/PHP/php5apache2.dll"

<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>TEST APACHE-PHP</TITLE>
<BODY>
<H1 style="color:red; text-align:center;">
PHP INFORMATION</H1>
<?php phpinfo(); ?>
</BODY>
</HTML>

http://localhost/PHP/PHPInfo.php

If your system (Apache, PHP, the PHP directory, and the sample program PHPInfo.php) are correctly installed, you should see the table that displays the informations on your PHP installation.

The most usual extensions are named in the extension directives which appear as comments in the distributed php.ini files (php.ini-dist or phi.ini-recommended). To enable an extension, uncomment its directive by deleting the semi-colon sign at the beginning of the line. Some of the directives you can uncomment are (full explanation in the reference manual):

Note that these directives are used to enable extension functions. PHP has a set of core functions which need not be declared in an extension directive. Some examples are:
- the Calendar functions
- the Date and Time functions
- the Function handler functions
- the HTTP functions
- the String functions
- etc...

In a Windows system, this involves the following steps:
1. Download the MySQL package from the mysql.com site
2. Unpack the package
3. Run the setup program
4. Start the MySQL server
5. In an NT type Windows system, install the MySQL server as a service
6. Assign passwords to the root and anonymous users

All these steps are very simple. Steps 1. to 3. install the server with the default options. With step 5. the MySQL server will start each time Windows starts.

That's all. MySQL is installed and ready to run.

3.2.1 Starting the MySQL server

The first time you use the --console argument to have the log messages displayed on your console. Example:

C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --console

The first time the MySQL server is started, it creates:

After this, the server is started, which is reported by messages like these:

Note the port number 3306 assigned to MySQL.

The console from which the mysqld --console command was entered is now used for message displaying. You must open another (DOS) command entry window to enter new commands to the MySQL server. You will need to enter commands, e.g. for stopping the MySQL server.

3.2.2 Stopping the MySQL server

C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root shutdown

In the primeval state, when the server is just installed, there is no password protection, so you do not have to, and must not introduce a password. A password is introduced by the argument -p. After a password has been defined for the user "root", the command to shut down the server is:

C:\>C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root -p shutdown

At this stage, do not try to start the MySQL server using the mysqld command without the --console argument. The server may not start.

You can connect as the root user. This can be done using the mysql command from the command line. Like this:

mysql -u root

Just after the server is installed, as passwords have not been defined, you need not and must not enter a password. After a password is defined, the command to connect to the server as the root user is:

mysql -u root -p

Here are the commands to exit from the MySQL server:

exit

quit

Creating a password for an account also creates the account if it did not exist.

When the MySQL server is installed as said in the above, 2 user accounts are defined, root and anonymous.

Each of these accounts is defined for access from 2 hosts.

In a Windows system:

In a Unix system, both accounts are for connection from the local host

In both systems, these accounts are initially created with no password. To protect your databases, you have to assign passwords to the accounts. To do this, you first connect to the server as the root account, then you define the passwords using the SET PASSWORD command as described in the following.

3.5.1 Windows systems

The anonymous account has an empty name; it is intended for common use. Its privileges are as follows:

To assign a password to these accounts, you can use these SQL commands, from the command line:

To assign passwords to the root account:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'%' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'%' = PASSWORD('password');

These commands set the password values in the user table contained in the mysql database that was automatically created by the standard installation process.

There should be lines with the root and empty names, and the % sign as the host name, but there may be not. You can display this table using the command:

+-----------+------+
| Host      + User |
+-----------+------+
| %         |      |
| %         | root |
| localhost |      |
| localhost | root |
+-----------+------+

If the % did not exist in the table, you can create an account to authorize the root account to access the database from any host, using the SQL command:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

3.5.2 Unix systems

The anonymous account, connecting from the local host using the localhost or the actual name, or the Internet Adddress, is granted all privileges on the test database, and all databases with name starting with test.

To see the actual name of the local host, you enter the SQL command:

The host name other than localhost is the actual name of the local host.

To assign a password to the root and anonymous accounts, you can enter these commands from the command line:

To assign passwords to the root account:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'hostname' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'localhost' = PASSWORD('password');

SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'hostname' = PASSWORD('password');

On Windows the my.ini file is contained in the Windows home directory which can be shown by the echo %windir% DOS command. The my.cnf is in the C: root.

On Unix, different casts of the my.cnf file are in:

Options are not dealt with in this guide which is concerned with installing the MySQL server with the default options.

The mysqlshow utility command (entered without conntecting to the server) can be used to display the databases under the server. Now that you have assigned a password to the accounts, you have to enter the password with the command. This is done by adding the -p option to the command line. Example:

mysqlshow -u root -p

A new database can be created using the SQL command CREATE DATABASE, after connecting to the server.

CREATE DATABASE db_name;

3.8.1 Administrating the server before connection

Show the databases

mysqlshow -u root -p

Start the server

mysqld --console

mysqld-nt --console

When MySQL is set up as a service in a Windows system (this is usually the case with Windows XP, 2000, NT), the server can be started as a service using:

NET START MySQL

Stop the server

mysqladmin shutdown -u root -p

To stop the server as a service:

NET STOP MySQL

Show the tables in a database

mysqlshow -u username -p dbname

Connect to the server

mysql -u username -p 

Connect directly to a database

mysql -u username -p dbname

Connect to the server from a host

mysql -u username -h hostname -p 

3.8.2 Database operations after connection to the server

Show the databases

show databases;

Connect to a database

connect dbname;

3.8.3 Security related commands

Creating and/or granting privileges to an account

GRANT privileges ON dbname.tablename 
      TO 'username'[@'hostname'] [IDENTIFIED BY 'password']
      [WITH GRANT OPTION];

Privileges can also be granted on specific columns. The syntax is as follows:

GRANT privilege(column_list), ... ON dbname.tablename ...

Revoking privileges from an account

REVOKE privileges ON dbname.tablename FROM username [, username...]

The following command removes all privileges from the named users:

REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES, GRANT OPTION FROM username [, username...]

Removing a user

DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE user='username';

To remove the anonymous user

DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE user='';

Setting a password

The password for an account of the root user can be set using the utility command mysqladmin:

mysqladmin -u root password [-h hostname] -p"newpsw";

After connecting to the server, you can change the password of an account using the SQL UPDATE command (this works with both Windows and Unix):

UPDATE mysql.user SET password = PASSWORD("newpsw")
       WHERE user='username' host='hostname';

On Windows, after connecting to the server, you can set the password for a user account, using the SET PASSWORD command:

SET PASSWORD FOR 'username'[@'hostname'] = PASSWORD('password');

A user connected under an account can change the password for that account using the command:

SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD ('password');

3.8.4 Other operations after connection to a database

Connect to another database

connect dbname;

Display the list of tables

show tables;

Display the definition of a table

describe tablename;