The following instructions assume a clean environment and show how to install PHP 8.0, the Microsoft ODBC driver, the Apache web server, and the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server on Ubuntu, RedHat, Debian, Suse, Alpine, and macOS. These instructions advise installing the drivers using PECL, but you can also download the prebuilt binaries from the [Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server](https://github.com/Microsoft/msphpsql/releases) Github project page and install them following the instructions in [Loading the Microsoft Drivers for PHP for SQL Server](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/php/loading-the-php-sql-driver). For an explanation of extension loading and why we do not add the extensions to php.ini, see the section on [loading the drivers](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/php/loading-the-php-sql-driver#loading-the-driver-at-php-startup).
The following instructions install PHP 8.0 by default using `pecl install`, if the PHP 8.0 packages are available. You may need to run `pecl channel-update pecl.php.net` first. Note that some supported Linux distros default to PHP 7.1 or earlier, which is not supported for the latest version of the PHP drivers for SQL Server -- please see the notes at the beginning of each section to install PHP 7.4 or 7.3 instead.
Also included are instructions for installing the PHP FastCGI Process Manager, PHP-FPM, on Ubuntu. This is needed if you are using the nginx web server instead of Apache.
While these instructions contain commands to install both SQLSRV and PDO_SQLSRV drivers, the drivers can be installed and function independently. Users comfortable with customizing their configuration can adjust these instructions to be specific to SQLSRV or PDO_SQLSRV. Both drivers have the same dependencies except where noted below.
Install the ODBC driver for Ubuntu by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
Install the ODBC driver for Ubuntu by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
To configure nginx, you must edit the `/etc/nginx/sites-available/default` file. Add `index.php` to the list below the section that says `# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP`:
```
# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
index index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html index.php;
Install the ODBC driver for Red Hat 7 or 8 by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
Install the ODBC driver for Debian by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
You may also need to generate the correct locale to get PHP output to display correctly in a browser. For example, for the en_US UTF-8 locale, run the following commands:
If there is only one PHP version in the system, then the last step can be simplified to `phpenmod sqlsrv pdo_sqlsrv`. As with `locale-gen`, `phpenmod` is located in `/usr/sbin` so you may need to add this directory to your `$PATH`.
> In the following instructions, replace `<SuseVersion>` with your version of Suse - if you are using Suse Enterprise Linux 15, it will be SLE_15_SP1 or SLE_15_SP2. For Suse 12, use SLE_12_SP4 (or above if applicable). Not all versions of PHP are available for all versions of Suse Linux - please refer to `http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/php` to see which versions of Suse have the default version PHP available, or check `http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/devel:/languages:/php:/` to see which other versions of PHP are available for which versions of Suse.
Install the ODBC driver for Suse by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
> If you get an error message saying `Connection to 'pecl.php.net:443' failed: Unable to find the socket transport "ssl"`, edit the pecl script at /usr/bin/pecl and remove the `-n` switch in the last line. This switch prevents PECL from loading ini files when PHP is called, which prevents the OpenSSL extension from loading.
> The default version of PHP is 7.3. PHP 7.4 or above may be available from testing or edge repositories for Alpine. You can instead compile PHP from source.
PHP packages for Alpine can be found in the `edge/community` repository. Please check [Enable Community Repository](https://wiki.alpinelinux.org/wiki/Enable_Community_Repository) on their WIKI page. Add the following line to `/etc/apk/repositories`, replacing `<mirror>` with the URL of an Alpine repository mirror:
Install the ODBC driver for Alpine by following the instructions on the [Install the Microsoft ODBC driver for SQL Server (Linux)](https://docs.microsoft.com/sql/connect/odbc/linux-mac/installing-the-microsoft-odbc-driver-for-sql-server?view=sql-server-ver15).
PHP should now be in your path. Run `php -v` to verify that you are running the correct version of PHP. If PHP is not in your path or it is not the correct version, run the following:
> The latest macOS 11.0 Big Sur comes with Apache 2.4 pre-installed, but Apple has also removed some required scripts. The solution is to install Apache 2.4 via Homebrew and then configure it, but this is out of scope for this installation guide, so please check Apache or Homebrew for detailed instructions.
The following commands append the required configuration to `httpd.conf`. Be sure to substitute the path returned by the preceding command in place of `/usr/local/etc/httpd/httpd.conf`:
To test this sample script, create a file called testsql.php in your system's document root. This is `/var/www/html/` on Ubuntu, Debian, and Redhat, `/srv/www/htdocs` on SUSE, `/var/www/localhost/htdocs` on Alpine, or `/usr/local/var/www` on macOS. Copy the following script to it, replacing the server, database, username, and password as appropriate.
Point your browser to https://localhost/testsql.php (https://localhost:8080/testsql.php on macOS). You should now be able to connect to your SQL Server/Azure SQL database. If you don't see a success message showing SQL version information, you can do some basic troubleshooting by running the script from the command line:
```bash
php testsql.php
```
If running from the command line is successful but nothing shows in your browser, check the [Apache log files](https://linuxize.com/post/apache-log-files/#location-of-the-log-files). For additional help, see [Support resources](support-resources-for-the-php-sql-driver.md) for places to go.