Installing and using phpMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases

by Vincent Danen | Dec 22, 2005 8:00:00 AM

Tags: Databases, OPEN SOURCE, Vincent Danen, phpMyAdmin, MySQL, server, database, Linux Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: Learn about the Web-based database management tool phpMyAdmin in this Linux tip.

Management of MySQL databases can be fairly straightforward�with the right tools. Using the MySQL command-line client requires a fairly intimate knowledge of MySQL in particular, and the SQL language in general. Not only that, but depending on the size of your terminal, the output of large tables can be quite difficult to read.

A fair number of GUI MySQL clients exist, but perhaps the best is the Web-based phpMyAdmin tool. This tool is a PHP-based front end to the MySQL database that can perform essentially any function to the database you might require. The drawback is that phpMyAdmin must be installed on your Web server, so without proper access restrictions, it's possible that others could tamper with your SQL data.

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Installation is extremely easy. Download phpMyAdmin from http://www.phpmyadmin.net/; the latest version is 2.6.4-pl3. Untar the tarball into a directory of your choice, such as /srv/www/domain.com/html/admin. Change into the newly created phpMyAdmin--2.6.4-pl3/ directory. Before connecting phpMyAdmin to your database, ensure that it is adequately protected. This can be done by creating an .htaccess file containing:

<code>

AuthUserFile /srv/www/domain.com/.htpasswd

AuthGroupFile /dev/null

AuthName admin

AuthType basic

<Files *>

Order Deny,Allow

Deny From All

Allow From localhost

require user admin

satisfy any

</Files>

</code>

This makes the assumption that /srv/www/domain.com is not actually served, so the .htaccess file is outside of the Web root (i.e., your DocumentRoot in Apache is /srv/www/domain.com/html). Create the /srv/www/domain.com/.htpasswd file using the htpasswd tool:

<code>

# htpasswd -cm /srv/www/domain.com/.htpasswd admin

</code>

Once you have provided the admin user a password, edit the config.inc.php file that belongs to phpMyAdmin. You'll want to edit the $cfg['PmabsoluteUri'] keyword to point to where phpMyAdmin is installed on your server, then edit the $cfg['Servers'] array. To get up and running quickly, and to be able to edit all the databases on the server, you'll need to provide root credentials:

<code>

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['host']��������� = 'localhost';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['extension']���� = 'mysql';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type']���� = 'config';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['user']��������� = 'root';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['password']����� = 'mysecretrootpass';

</code>

Now you should be able to go to http://www.domain.com/admin/phpMyAdmin-2.6.4-pl3/ and access your MySQL data. Rename the directory to phpMyAdmin/ to make it easier to access.

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