Connecting a Cloud Server to an external database

This guide explains how to connect to an external database from a Cloud Server.

Preamble

• It is possible to connect to MySQL (external or not) in SSL - specify this when establishing the connection
• MySQL port 3306 is closed by default - to open it, refer to this guide
• Infomaniak does not install PDO_DBLIB

Prerequisites

• Access to the PHP Extensions menu from the administration console of your Cloud Server (if not, it will be necessary to upgrade the Cloud Server)

Installing PHP_PDO_ODBC

You can install the PHP_PDO_ODBC extension from the PHP Extensions menu of your Cloud Server:

1. Log in to the Infomaniak Manager (manager.infomaniak.com) from a web browser like Brave or Firefox
2. Click on the icon at the top right of the interface (or navigate through the left sidebar menu)
3. Choose Cloud Server (Web & Domain universe)
4. Click on the name of the relevant object in the displayed table
5. Click on PHP Extensions in the left sidebar menu
6. Click on the blue Install an extension button
7. Choose the PHP_PDO_ODBC extension
8. Confirm the installation

Connector

The driver configuration is already defined in /etc/odbcinst.ini:

[FreeTDS]
Description = MS SQL database access with Free TDS Driver
Driver = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
Setup = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libtdsS.so

There is no need to redefine it statically in .odbc.ini or in the user's home directory ~~/.odbc.ini or dynamically in PHP code. For example, with the previously defined FreeTDS driver, the driver version must also be specified at the end of the pdo object declaration:

$con = new PDO('odbc:Driver=FreeTDS;Server=__SERVER IP__;Port=3306;DATABASE=__DATABASE NAME__;UID=__USERNAME__;PWD=__PASSWORD__;TDS_Version=8.0');