Building a Database-Driven Web Site Using PHP and MySQL

by Kevin Yank of SitePoint.com

Installation under Windows

As I mentioned above, MySQL for Windows costs about US$200 to buy. For those of us who just want to try it out and see what it can do, T.c.X. (the company that develops MySQL) provides an older version that can be downloaded for free. It can be found by going to http://www.mysql.com/ (or one of its mirrors listed at http://www.mysql.com/mirrors.html) and selecting "Register and download shareware version of MySQL-Win32" in the "Downloads" section under "Downloads for Windows MySQL related software". After downloading the file, unzip it and run the setup.exe program contained therein.

Once installed, MySQL is ready to roll (barring a couple of configuration tasks that we'll look at shortly). Just like your Web server, MySQL is a server that should be run in the background so that it may respond to requests for information at any time. The server program may be found in the "bin" subfolder of the folder where you installed MySQL. If you are using the shareware version of MySQL, the server is called mysqld-shareware.exe. Before proceeding, rename this file to mysqld.exe. From the MS-DOS Prompt, start the server:

C:\mysql\bin> mysqld

To ensure that the server is started whenever Windows starts, you might want to create a shortcut to the program and put it in your Startup folder. If you decide to buy MySQL, it will come with a version that can be installed as a Windows NT/2000 service with the following command:

C:\mysql\bin> mysqld-nt --install

If you have trouble running the shareware version under Windows NT/2000, you can try running the server as a standalone program:

C:\mysql\bin> mysqld --standalone

The next step is to install PHP. At the time of this writing, PHP 4.0 was available as "Release Candidate 2"--or "almost ready but not quite". Personally I use PHP 4.0-RC2 and don't have any trouble with it. Since the final version is slated for release "real soon now" (likely before this series of articles is even finished), I'd recommend you install the latest version of 4.0 so you don't have to change anything when the final version is released.

PHP may be downloaded for free from http://www.php.net/ (or one of its mirrors listed at http://www.php.net/mirrors.php). You want the "binaries for Win32" package. Don't worry about grabbing any of the add-ons; we don't need them. A good installation guide for PHP 3.0 for Windows is available at the following URL: http://www.umesd.k12.or.us/php/win32install.html. It'll probably be updated with instructions for PHP 4.0 when it is finally released, but since installation of 4.0 is pretty much identical to installation of 3.0, you shouldn't have any trouble following the instructions with either version.

Don't worry about any of the optional steps (like choosing extension modules)-we'll work through those things together in a little bit. If you have any trouble following the instructions, feel free to post your question to the SitePoint.com Forums. I will be glad to help if the other helpful people there don't beat me to it!

With MySQL and PHP installed, you're ready to proceed to Post-Installation Setup Tasks.

Article Index Introduction and Contents Part 1: Installation Part 2: Getting Started with MySQL Part 3: Getting Started with PHP Part 4: Publishing MySQL Data on the Web ††Challenge Solution Buy this book in print format now

Installing under Linux

SitePoint.com is a fast growing Web Developer Community. Kevin Yank is the Editor of the SitePoint TechTimes, a fresh, technically oriented newsletter for the serious Webmaster.