Installing Oracle, PHP, and Apache on Windows 2000/XP

By Robert Clevenger
Updated by Christopher Jones, May 2006

Are you ready to start using PHP to talk to an Oracle Database? Let's walk through the steps required to install the Oracle Database, Apache HTTP Server, and PHP as an Apache module on Windows. We will be using Windows XP Professional for this example.

Software Requirements:

Installing Oracle

You have a choice here. You may either install the database locally on this Windows machine, or you may decide to use an Oracle server located on another machine on your network. If your database is remote, jump to the article on Installing PHP and the Oracle 10g Instant Client for Linux and Windows.

Otherwise, if this is your first time with Oracle, installing the Oracle Database 10g Express Edition only takes a few minutes. Download the Express Edition (commonly known as "XE") self-extracting executable OracleXE.exe and simply double-click this file to run the installation wizard.

Starting and Stopping Oracle

Oracle XE will be running after installation. You can test it by opening your browser to the Database home page http://localhost:8080/apex/. Use the username "SYSTEM" and the password you chose during installation.

Note: You may need to replace "localhost" with the IP address 127.0.0.1 or your machine's DNS name if you are behind a firewall or if localhost does not resolve for some other reason.

If you need to restart the database at any time use the Start Database and Stop Database items on the Windows Start menu.

Don't forget to register for the free Oracle XE forum by following the "Forum Registration" link on the Database home page.

Installing Apache HTTP Server

The easiest way to install Apache on Windows is to download the Microsoft Windows Installer apache_2.0.58-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi package from Apache Windows Binaries. To install on this machine, double-click the file and follow the wizards. I chose to install "for All Users, on Port 80" because the "only for the Current User" alternative would clash with Oracle XE's default port 8080. I installed Apache under C:\Program Files\Apache Group, however any other directory will also work.

Starting and Stopping Apache

As part of installation, the server will be started. You should now test on your machine by opening your web browser to http://localhost/

Your system tray has an Apache Monitor control that makes it easy to stop and re-start the HTTP Server when needed. Alternatively use the Apache options added to your Windows Start menu.

Installing PHP

Download the PHP 5.1.3 Zip package (not the "installer" package, which does not contain necessary extensions). You will notice that the installation instructions here are very similar to those found in the install.txt file contained within the PHP archive that you downloaded. Feel free to use that as a guide; the instructions here are just a subset of the information it contains.

Installation Steps

1. Uncompress the PHP package to a directory called "C:\php-5.1.3-Win32".

2. Copy php.ini-recommended to C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\conf\php.ini

3. Edit php.ini and perform the following:

   • Change extension_dir to "C:\php-5.1.3-Win32\ext", which is the directory containing php_oci8.dll and the other PHP extensions.
   • Uncomment (remove the semicolon from the beginning of the line) the line extension=php_oci8.dll
   • For testing it is helpful to set display_errors to On so you see any problems in your code.
     
     
4. Edit the file httpd.conf and add the following lines. Make sure to use forward slashes '/' instead of back slashes '\':

        #
        # This will load the PHP module into Apache
        #
        LoadModule php5_module c:/php-5.1.3-Win32/php5apache2.dll

        #
        # This next section will call PHP for .php, .phtml, and .phps files
        #
        AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
        AddType application/x-httpd-php .phtml
        AddType application/x-httpd-php-source .phps

        #
        # This is the directory containing php.ini
        #
        PHPIniDir "C:/Program Files/Apache Group/Apache2/conf"

Restart the Apache HTTP Server

You must now restart the Apache Server so that you can test your PHP installation. Use the Start menu option to start Apache. This opens a console window showing any error messages. They may also be recorded in C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\logs\error.log

If you have errors, double check your httpd.conf and php.ini and correct any problems.

Testing Apache and PHP with Oracle

Testing PHP with Oracle is easy. You simply need to place a PHP file into your htdocs directory; normally C:\Program Files\Apache Group\Apache2\htdocs.

Here are two files, the first is used to test basic PHP installation. Open it in a browser with http://localhost/phpinfo.php. If PHP is installed you should see a large page full of PHP configuration information.

  <?php
    phpinfo();
  ?>

Check there is a section titled "oci8".

oci8test.php

The second file will display name and salary columns from the EMPLOYEES table owned by the HR user. This requires the HR schema be installed, otherwise you will need to modify the script. The HR schema comes with Oracle Database XE. You can unlock access and set a password using the Adminstration section of the Database home page.

This file uses PHP4-style function names such as "ocilogon". In PHP5 names were standardized like "oci_connect" but the old names are still available.

For Oracle Database XE the database connection string is simply "//127.0.0.1/XE". If you are not using XE then change the connection string (third parameter) to the Oracle Net entry for your database.

  <?php

    $db_conn = ocilogon("hr", "your_hr_password", "//127.0.0.1/XE");

    $cmdstr = "select last_name, salary from employees";

    $parsed = ociparse($db_conn, $cmdstr);
    ociexecute($parsed);

    $nrows = ocifetchstatement($parsed, $results);

    echo "<html><head><title>Oracle PHP Test</title></head><body>";
    echo "<center><h2>Oracle PHP Test</h2><br>";
    echo "<table border=1 cellspacing='0' width='50%'>\n<tr>\n";
    echo "<td><b>Name</b></td>\n<td><b>Salary</b></td>\n</tr>\n";

    for ($i = 0; $i < $nrows; $i++ )
    {
      echo "<tr>\n";
      echo "<td>" . $results["LAST_NAME"][$i] . "</td>";
      echo "<td>$ " . number_format($results["SALARY"][$i],   2). "</td>";
      echo "</tr>\n";
    }

    echo "<tr><td colspan='2'> Number of Rows: $nrows</td></tr></table>";
    echo "<br><em>If you see data, then it works!</em><br></center></body></html>\n";

  ?>

You should now have the Oracle Database, Apache HTTP Server, and PHP installed and configured. At this point you are ready to start writing PHP applications on the Oracle platform.

For more information about PHP and Oracle, visit the OTN PHP Developer Center.

Robert Clevenger joined Oracle in 1997 and is an architect for Oracle Fusion middleware.
Christopher Jones joined Oracle in 1990 and is an open source evangelist.