Oracle RAC Test on VMWare Linux + openfiler SAN/NAS storage

For people who don't want to spend much money on SAN storage just for the purpose of testing Oracle RAC feature.
One of the option you can do is installing VMWare on your computer and set up 2 Linux virtual servers on it. You will also need another virtual server to set up as openfiler to act as SAN storage. The hardware requirement you need to have are 3 GB of memory, 50 GB of hard disk (excluding your host OS space).
For more information on how to do this you can drop in to http://www.oracledba.ca/ there are step by step + image guide for you.

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Runing Oracle on Linux + VMWare

There are many website talked about oracle installation on Linux which is running on VMWare.
There are many comments I come across mentioned that this must be for the testing or developing purpose only.

I'd myself rather think differently. If you have computer with huge enough resources you can set it up as your virtual servers and running on your network along with physical servers. It depend of the art of tuning your VMWare , Linux, Oracle, with new oracle improved functionality it could be easier to manage. I myself, used to train my 10+ clients and had them connected to my laptop (at the time 2GB Memory), runing VMWare with Linux and Oracle installed, it worked just fine.

The thing is, it's on the art of put the right tools/machines for the right task. With well configuration of your Oracle, VMWare, Linux plus your host resources, your virtual servers will work like a charm.

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FIX EXP-00008: ORACLE error 604 encountered while exporting full database

if you had the below error (Error 1) while exporting full database
login as sys user and execute the following sql command at sqlplus prompt

GRANT EXECUTE ON sys.lt_export_pkg TO exp_full_database;

and if after running the above sql command and you got the an error (Error 2).
login as sys user and then execute the file
$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/owminst.plb to validated LT_EXPORT_PKG .
at sqlplus prompt
>@$ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/owminst.plb
ie.
>@$D:\oracle\ora90\rdbms\admin\rdbms\admin\owminst.plb


Error 1
EXP-00008: ORACLE error 604 encountered
ORA-00604: error occurred at recursive SQL level 1
ORA-06502: PL/SQL: numeric or value error: character string buffer too small
ORA-06512: at line 8
ORA-06550: line 1, column 13:
PLS-00201: identifier 'SYS.LT_EXPORT_PKG' must be declared
ORA-06550: line 1, column 7:
PL/SQL: Statement ignored
EXP-00083: The previous problem occurred when calling SYS.LT_EXPORT_PKG.schema_i
nfo_exp

Error 2
EXP-00008: ORACLE error 4068 encountered
ORA-04068: existing state of packages has been discarded
ORA-04063: package body "SYS.LT_EXPORT_PKG" has errors
ORA-06508: PL/SQL: could not find program unit being called
ORA-06512: at line 1
EXP-00083: The previous problem occurred when calling SYS.LT_EXPORT_PKG.schema_info_exp

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Oracle RAC Test on VMWare Linux + openfiler SAN/NAS storage

For some of you who don't want to spend much money on SAN storage just for the purpose of testing Oracle RAC feature.
One of the option you can do is install VMWare to set up Linux on it. And you need openfiler to act as SAN storage. for more information on how to do this you can drop in to http://www.oracledba.ca/ there are step by step + image guide for you.

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Oracle Database 11g:The Top New Features for DBAs and Developers

Database Replay


Explore Database Replay, the new tool that captures SQL statements and lets you replay them at will.


Partitioning


Learn about Referential, Internal, and Virtual Column partitioning; new sub-partitioning options; and more.

Schema Management


Add columns with a default value easily and explore invisible indexes, virtual columns, and read only tables.


SQL Performance Analyzer


Accurately assess the impact of rewriting of SQL statements and get suggested improvements.


SQL Access Advisor


Get advice about optimal table design based on actual use of the table, not just data.


Transaction Management


Get an introduction to Flashback Data Archive and explore EM's Log Miner interface.

SQL Plan Management


Learn how to baseline and compare optimizer plans and then choose the best one.


SQL Repair Advisor


Explore how to use SQL Repair Advisor to identify problematic SQL statements and gather diagnostic information.


Manageability Features


Explore automatic memory management, multicolumn statistics, online patching, and more features.


PL/SQL: Coding


Avoid unneeded invalidation during changes, track null exceptions, interchange cursors, and more.

Security

Learn about Tablespace Encryption, case-sensitive passwords, data masking, and other features.


Result Cache

Don't go to the database if data has not changed. Use result cache instead, both in SQL and PL/SQL.


Resiliency


Explore Automatic Health Monitor, Automatic Diagnostic Repository, and other new resiliency features.


SQL Operations: Pivot and Unpivot
Make creating pivot operation on tables a breeze using new keywords.


ASM Improvements


Learn about variable AU sizing, rolling upgrades, and node affinity in RAC environments, among other things.


SecureFiles


Explore next-generation LOBs: LOB encryption, compression, de-duplication, and asynchronicity.

Data Guard Improvements


Query the physical standby database in real time without shutting down recovery, just for starters.


PL/SQL: Performance

Explore in-lining of code, native compilation without C compiler, PLS timer, use of simple integer, and more.

RMAN Improvements


Explore Data Recovery Advisor, Virtual Private Catalog, parallel backup of the same datafile, and other features.


Other...

COPY command, Export/Imports, Data Pump improvements, PHP Connection Pooling, and more.


more information click here

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Proxy List

Here are the proxy server with it port ( Transparent proxy)
195.175.37.70:8080
201.245.28.74:8080
201.28.44.10:3128
201.72.179.3:3128
202.106.62.117:80
202.155.4.114:3128
202.63.233.8:8080
203.160.1.45:553
203.199.198.232:3128
209.149.181.5:80
209.202.137.35:80
210.212.95.99:8080
211.140.192.98:8080
222.124.11.218:3128
58.211.234.194:3128
58.22.97.55:8080
58.26.9.158:3128
59.145.72.6:8080
60.173.7.17:80
60.248.186.136:3128
60.52.117.19:3128
61.184.196.162:8080
61.220.150.2:3128
61.47.19.211:8080
71.230.108.90:3128
80.36.58.71:8080
81.10.57.186:3128
81.7.87.242:3128
83.238.44.49:8080
84.19.177.62:8080
85.199.0.2:3128
86.107.212.10:3128
87.118.106.214:3128
87.197.51.90:3128
84.19.176.62:8080
62.173.116.73:80
62.75.159.159:8080
72.29.108.81:80
64.34.199.36:80
82.225.163.158:3128
64.200.180.169:80
66.118.220.27:80
61.91.30.62:3128
200.211.233.131:3128 WORK
203.160.1.146:554
203.160.1.146:553
219.93.182.99:3128
75.63.143.140:3128
200.149.1.100:80
200.149.1.100:3128
200.211.233.132:3128
219.93.83.126:8080
222.124.142.89:6588
64.79.160.177:80
63.109.247.193:80
80.58.205.61:80
59.120.36.85:3128
201.34.32.44:3128
201.2.35.6:8080
200.175.156.173:3128
200.206.131.82:3128
200.171.124.197:3128
200.161.3.60:3128
69.60.127.20:80
210.212.95.100:8080
83.133.119.38:8080
85.185.16.126:8080
220.225.18.147:8080
212.122.243.2:3128
140.110.17.218:3128
200.254.105.131:3128
82.207.44.14:3128
201.23.203.233:3128
201.90.65.5:3128
200.193.144.138:80
193.220.51.5:8080
195.112.212.186:3128
218.7.48.22:8080
202.82.116.26:3128
193.255.143.6:8080
193.69.167.132:8080
195.8.178.100:8080
200.87.6.19:3128
61.135.153.116:8080
202.146.91.196:8080
195.175.37.71:8080
195.175.37.8:8080
195.175.37.6:8080
66.98.238.8:3128
195.175.37.71:80
65.243.68.184:80
62.150.76.250:80
195.175.37.8:80
64.56.191.191:80
64.56.191.222:80
64.56.191.221:80
60.173.7.17:3128
219.235.232.240:3128
164.58.221.238:3128
200.241.108.198:3128
200.141.141.193:8080




200.88.125.9:8008
72.29.108.81:80
213.16.20.140:3128
200.103.18.29:3128
64.34.199.36:80
84.19.177.62:8080
202.163.200.153:80
84.19.176.62:8080
66.54.171.210:80
202.155.4.114:3128
201.36.165.130:3128
201.17.147.71:3128
203.160.1.146:553
213.163.31.253:3128
203.198.69.125:3128
203.198.69.124:3128
203.198.69.123:3128
219.87.129.180:3128
64.200.180.169:80
203.26.206.131:553
81.8.231.130:3128
201.12.137.221:3128
69.244.185.39:8217
203.26.206.130:553
84.17.228.113:8080
69.88.144.163:80
81.7.87.242:3128
64.79.160.177:80
80.58.205.61:80
59.120.36.85:3128
219.87.129.186:3128
217.156.89.185:8080
213.4.106.85:8080
210.211.217.78:3128
203.185.44.56:8080
203.154.86.170:8080
200.206.131.82:3128
200.181.55.100:8080
200.171.124.197:3128
200.161.3.60:3128
200.101.52.50:8080
69.60.127.20:80
209.190.240.18:80
65.243.68.184:80
64.56.191.222:80
64.56.191.221:80
64.56.191.191:80
211.48.62.46:80
203.116.61.164:80
200.96.11.121:80
200.118.2.164:80
195.175.37.8:80
195.175.37.71:80
195.175.37.70:80
144.140.22.190:80
193.63.43.10:8080
61.47.19.215:8080
200.87.120.46:8080
220.227.171.147:8080
195.175.37.8:8080
202.146.91.196:8080
195.175.37.70:8080
195.175.37.71:8080
61.135.153.116:8080
202.52.242.69:8080
159.148.29.62:8080
222.124.206.43:8080
212.92.18.12:8080
203.116.61.164:8080
195.175.37.6:8080
63.118.235.195:8080
202.28.186.3:8080
202.69.140.10:8080
210.212.95.103:8080
61.81.185.103:8080
222.124.193.82:8080
222.255.69.42:8080
201.25.52.10:8080
61.19.25.163:3128
220.227.141.153:3128
221.226.124.123:3128
58.216.235.242:3128
200.216.119.138:3128
66.98.238.8:3128
200.210.115.100:3128
61.146.114.237:3128
200.253.116.3:3128
210.212.156.14:3128
61.19.23.226:3128
200.203.94.49:3128
201.57.66.2:3128
210.72.99.19:3128

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Proxy List

195.175.37.70:8080
201.245.28.74:8080
201.28.44.10:3128
201.72.179.3:3128
202.106.62.117:80
202.155.4.114:3128
202.63.233.8:8080
203.160.1.45:553
203.199.198.232:3128
209.149.181.5:80
209.202.137.35:80
210.212.95.99:8080
211.140.192.98:8080
222.124.11.218:3128
58.211.234.194:3128
58.22.97.55:8080
58.26.9.158:3128
59.145.72.6:8080
60.173.7.17:80
60.248.186.136:3128
60.52.117.19:3128
61.184.196.162:8080
61.220.150.2:3128
61.47.19.211:8080
71.230.108.90:3128
80.36.58.71:8080
81.10.57.186:3128
81.7.87.242:3128
83.238.44.49:8080
84.19.177.62:8080
85.199.0.2:3128
86.107.212.10:3128
87.118.106.214:3128
87.197.51.90:3128
84.19.176.62:8080
62.173.116.73:80
62.75.159.159:8080
72.29.108.81:80
64.34.199.36:80
82.225.163.158:3128
64.200.180.169:80
66.118.220.27:80
61.91.30.62:3128
200.211.233.131:3128 WORK
203.160.1.146:554
203.160.1.146:553
219.93.182.99:3128
75.63.143.140:3128
200.149.1.100:80
200.149.1.100:3128
200.211.233.132:3128
219.93.83.126:8080
222.124.142.89:6588
64.79.160.177:80
63.109.247.193:80
80.58.205.61:80
59.120.36.85:3128
201.34.32.44:3128
201.2.35.6:8080
200.175.156.173:3128
200.206.131.82:3128
200.171.124.197:3128
200.161.3.60:3128
69.60.127.20:80
210.212.95.100:8080
83.133.119.38:8080
85.185.16.126:8080
220.225.18.147:8080
212.122.243.2:3128
140.110.17.218:3128
200.254.105.131:3128
82.207.44.14:3128
201.23.203.233:3128
201.90.65.5:3128
200.193.144.138:80
193.220.51.5:8080
195.112.212.186:3128
218.7.48.22:8080
202.82.116.26:3128
193.255.143.6:8080
193.69.167.132:8080
195.8.178.100:8080
200.87.6.19:3128
61.135.153.116:8080
202.146.91.196:8080
195.175.37.71:8080
195.175.37.8:8080
195.175.37.6:8080
66.98.238.8:3128
195.175.37.71:80
65.243.68.184:80
62.150.76.250:80
195.175.37.8:80
64.56.191.191:80
64.56.191.222:80
64.56.191.221:80
60.173.7.17:3128
219.235.232.240:3128
164.58.221.238:3128
200.241.108.198:3128
200.141.141.193:8080




200.88.125.9:8008
72.29.108.81:80
213.16.20.140:3128
200.103.18.29:3128
64.34.199.36:80
84.19.177.62:8080
202.163.200.153:80
84.19.176.62:8080
66.54.171.210:80
202.155.4.114:3128
201.36.165.130:3128
201.17.147.71:3128
203.160.1.146:553
213.163.31.253:3128
203.198.69.125:3128
203.198.69.124:3128
203.198.69.123:3128
219.87.129.180:3128
64.200.180.169:80
203.26.206.131:553
81.8.231.130:3128
201.12.137.221:3128
69.244.185.39:8217
203.26.206.130:553
84.17.228.113:8080
69.88.144.163:80
81.7.87.242:3128
64.79.160.177:80
80.58.205.61:80
59.120.36.85:3128
219.87.129.186:3128
217.156.89.185:8080
213.4.106.85:8080
210.211.217.78:3128
203.185.44.56:8080
203.154.86.170:8080
200.206.131.82:3128
200.181.55.100:8080
200.171.124.197:3128
200.161.3.60:3128
200.101.52.50:8080
69.60.127.20:80
209.190.240.18:80
65.243.68.184:80
64.56.191.222:80
64.56.191.221:80
64.56.191.191:80
211.48.62.46:80
203.116.61.164:80
200.96.11.121:80
200.118.2.164:80
195.175.37.8:80
195.175.37.71:80
195.175.37.70:80
144.140.22.190:80
193.63.43.10:8080
61.47.19.215:8080
200.87.120.46:8080
220.227.171.147:8080
195.175.37.8:8080
202.146.91.196:8080
195.175.37.70:8080
195.175.37.71:8080
61.135.153.116:8080
202.52.242.69:8080
159.148.29.62:8080
222.124.206.43:8080
212.92.18.12:8080
203.116.61.164:8080
195.175.37.6:8080
63.118.235.195:8080
202.28.186.3:8080
202.69.140.10:8080
210.212.95.103:8080
61.81.185.103:8080
222.124.193.82:8080
222.255.69.42:8080
201.25.52.10:8080
61.19.25.163:3128
220.227.141.153:3128
221.226.124.123:3128
58.216.235.242:3128
200.216.119.138:3128
66.98.238.8:3128
200.210.115.100:3128
61.146.114.237:3128
200.253.116.3:3128
210.212.156.14:3128
61.19.23.226:3128
200.203.94.49:3128
201.57.66.2:3128
210.72.99.19:3128

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Oracle Default Port

When you first installed oracle, if you haven't changed the port number, the default listening port is 1521. But for the security issue, if you are serious about it, this should be changed to something else. There would be one more step for client setup, you need to specify what port number to connect to your oracle dba server. Which maybe a bit annoying, so most people would leave it as a default option.

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Trojan port list

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

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Simple Oracle Auditing

Oracle's RDBMS is a functionally rich product and there are a number of auditing alternatives available to the reader. Because auditing Oracle is such a huge subject, doing all of it justice would take an entire book, so this paper will cover the basics of why, when and how to conduct an audit. It will also use a couple of good example cases to illustrate how useful Oracle audit can be to an organization.....
read more here http://www.securityfocus.com/infocus/1689

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Oracle 11g security & auditing new features

Enhanced Password - Pete Finnigan notes some new Oracle 11g security features "[Oracle 11g] will have case sensitive passwords and also the password algorithm has changed to SHA-1 instead of the old DES based hashing used."

Oracle SecureFiles - replacement for LOBs that are faster than Unix files to read/write. Lots of potential benefit for OLAP analytic workspaces, as the LOBs used to hold AWs have historically been slower to write to than the old Express .db files. Mark Rittman Securefiles are a huge improvement to BLOB data types. Faster, with compression, encryption. Source: Laurent Schneider

Oracle 11g audit vault - Oracle Audit Vault is a new feature that will provide a solution to help customers address the most difficult security problems remaining today, protecting against insider threat and meeting regulatory compliance requirements.

Proxy connect for SQL*Plus - New with 10r2 proxy identification in SQL*Plus, the "connect" command has been enhanced to allow for a "proxy", to aid applications that always connect with the same user ID:

connect sapr3[scott]/tiger

FGAC for UTL_SMTP, UTL_TCP and UTL_HTTP. You can define security on ports and URLs. Source: Lewis Cunningham

Fine Grained Dependency Tracking (FGDT). This means that when you add a column to a table, or a cursor to a package spec, you don't invalidate objects that are dependant on them. Sweet! Source: Lewis Cunningham

Database Workload Replay - Oracle "Replay" allows the total database workload to be captured, transferred to a test database created from a backup or standby database, then replayed to test the affects of an upgrade or system change. Currently, they are working to a capture performance overhead of 5%, so you could conceivably capture real production workloads. Source: Dr. Tim Hall

Source: http://www.dba-oracle.com/oracle11g/oracle_11g_new_features.htm#security

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Database Administrator Jobs

Database Administrator Jobs

As the new database dependent systems have been increasing in the recent years, the necessity of appointing a Database Administrator has become evident in the corporate field. The database administrator is the one who is responsible for the integrity and security of the database systems that are used in the corporate offices.

The major responsibilities if a database administrator are Recoverability, Integrity, Security, Availability, Performance, Development and Testing Support of the database system.

A database administrator is responsible for the following aspects of Data base: He will be responsible for creating and testing backups and verifying the integrity of the data. A database administrator needs to provide maximum performance with the available budget. He should know to use the budget in an economic way and at the same time he should also extract maximum benefits from it.

The administrator needs to help the program engineers in utilizing the database fully. Administrator needs to ensure the security of the system with the implementation of access control to the data.

Database administrator will be involved in the works of database designing, implementation and monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting assignments. Different types of companies will hire or appoint the candidates according to their knowledge on different databases which the company is working with.

The companies which appoint the database administrator need him to work for the development of new database systems, along with providing security for the existing database systems. The new database he develops should meet the quality standards of the company. Organizations seek the applicant who applies for the post of database administrator to have an experience of 3 to 5 years in the field in a corporate environment.

The candidate should know to work with the technologies like: Oracle (8i to 9i release 2) Oracle Forms (4.5) Oracle Reports (2.5) SQL Server (7, 2000).

Though development and testing support are commonly done works by a database administrator, he should not think it as his or her least important duty. Because, managers, with a result-oriented mindset, consider the development and testing support, that includes the collection of sample production data to test the changed and new program, as the most important duty to be performed by the database administrators.

This job is very challenging as there are opportunities like working in different systems like corporate business, geographic information systems, internet and intranet. The corporate business includes human resource, finance and others. KoreOne is taking part of recruitment of database administrative positions for reputed IT firms.
By: Shakir A
Source: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=442886

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Oracle Database Administration

Oracle Database Administration

Oracle Database Administrators are responsible for administering Oracle Database servers and the phenomenon is called Oracle Database Administration. Each oracle database requires at least one Database Administrator (DBA) to administer it as an Oracle database can be large and can have many users. The types of Oracle users and their roles and responsibilities vary from site to site. A small site can have one database administrator who administers the database for application developers and users. A very large site can find it necessary to divide the duties of a database administrator among several people, and among several areas of specialization.

A database administrator is held responsible for installing and upgrading the Oracle server and application tools. The DBA allocates the system storage and plans the future storage requirements for the database system. The responsibility of a DBA is to create primary database storage structure after designing an application and create primary objects once the application is designed. The DBA modifies the database structure according to the information given by the developers and enrolls users and maintain system security. The administrator ensures the compliance with the Oracle License Agreement and control and maintains user access to the database. The performance of the database is then monitored and optimized. The DBA plans for backup and recovery of database information, maintain archive data on tape, and take regular backups and restore the database. For troubleshooting, the DBA should contact the Oracle Corporation.

The fundamental task of Oracle Database Administrator is to evaluate the database server hardware. The evaluation should reveal the information about the number of disk drives available to Oracle and its databases, to ensure if any dedicated tape drives are available to Oracle and its databases, and inspect the memory available for running Oracle. The database administrator should install the Oracle database server software and other front-end tools and database applications that access the database. The database administrator plans the database for logical storage structure of the database, overall database design, and a backup strategy for the database. After the designing the database, the administrator should open and create the database for normal use. The database can be created at the installation time, using the Database Configuration Assistant. The DBA should take a backup of the database structure and carry out the backup strategy planned for the database. After the backup of the database structure, the administrator should enroll the system users of the database according to the Oracle license agreement. The other tasks of a DBA are to implement the database design, backup the fully functional database and tune database performance.

KoreOne is a leading job provider for skilled Oracle Database Administrators capable enough to handle large databases of various companies.
Written By: Shakir A
Ref: http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=445132

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Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005' Specified driver could not be loaded due to system error 5 (Oracle in OraHome92).

Solution Description
--------------------

Oracle 9.2 Client software requires that you give the Authenticated User
privilege to the Oracle Home by following these steps:

1.  Log on to Windows as a user with Administrator privileges.

2.  Launch Windows Explorer from the Start Menu and and navigate to the
    ORACLE_HOME folder.  This is typically the "Ora92" folder under the
    "Oracle" folder (i.e. D:\Oracle\Ora92).

3.  Right-click on the ORACLE_HOME folder and choose the "Properties" option
    from the drop down list.  A "Properties" window should appear.

4.  Click on the "Security" tab of the "Properties" window.

5.  Click on "Authenticated Users" item in the "Name" list (on Windows XP
    the "Name" list is called "Group or user names").

6.  Uncheck the "Read and Execute" box in the "Permissions" list under the
    "Allow" column (on Windows XP the "Permissions" list is called
    "Permissions for Authenticated Users").

7.  Re-check the "Read and Execute" box under the "Allow" column (this is
    the box you just unchecked).

8.  Click the "Advanced" button and in the "Permission Entries" list make
    sure you see the "Authenticated Users" listed there with:

        Permission = Read & Execute
          Apply To = This folder, subfolders and files

    If this is NOT the case, edit that line and make sure the "Apply onto"
    drop-down box is set to "This folder, subfolders and files".  This
    should already be set properly but it is important that you verify this.

9.  Click the "Ok" button until you close out all of the security properties
    windows.  The cursor may present the hour glass for a few seconds as it
    applies the permissions you just changed to all subfolders and files.

10.  Reboot your computer to assure that these changes have taken effect.


Re-execute the application and it should now work.

ref: http://www.ureader.com/message/451160.aspx

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Introduction to Database Driven Development, PHP and MySQL

By Adam Knife
PHP is one of the “scripting languages” of the Web. It is an interpreted language, interpreted by the official PHP interpreter, developed specifically for web programming. Being quite similar to ASP in many ways, chances are a change from ASP to PHP would not be all that difficult for a seasoned developer who was experienced in a C-style language.

PHP, combined with Apache, or another web server handles all the “standard” web serving side of development; it watches for requests, it hands them off to the appropriate handlers, it sends the required headers, and it finalizes the job.

On it’s own, PHP is a language capable of many simple things: date functions, file manipulation, mathematics, logic, all the traditional programming language stuff (including some very feature-filled mechanics for topics such as string manipulation and date manipulation) - but it doesn’t expand in to the power given by database driven web applications. Luckily, there are standard libraries such as the MySQL library, which allow you to easily integrate databases in to your project.

A database is simply that, a collection of data. MySQL is both a relational database server, and query language. It allows users to easily create tables of information, which are sortable by a number of columns, and capable of handling millions of rows of information. Rather impressive when you look at it’s simplicity.

MySQL (pronounced My Sequel) is an implementation of the popular SQL - “structured query language” - don’t worry if you’ve never heard of SQL before - we’ll get there in a later lesson. Information can be stored in a SQL database, and accessed in a range of different ways, manipulated, modified, and stored rapidly.

But wait, why the heck do we want to store our content in a database? Why not just store it in flat files? That’s an easy question. If by flat files, you mean storing it in plain text files and loading it in to a PHP-powered templating system - the database is faster. If by flat files, you mean storing it in HTML files and linking them around, you’ve probably already answered your own question. HTML-only websites are messy, frequently ending up with hundreds of files, each with their own copy of the template, among other things. A simple change for an HTML-only site could take days to implement, where in a PHP-MySQL-powered site it would take minutes.

On top of that, by integrating PHP + MySQL in to your project you open a range of new uses. In the future you could set up a web-service for a software application to contact your database server and get the content, you could sell your database of content, or you could further manipulate the way the content is stored.

The advantages to a database driven, scripting language powered site are numerous, and you shall realize them more and more as you get deeper in to web development.

Adam X. Knife is a professional web developer and author of the new Code Hippo programming "blog"-style site. When he's not writing articles on programming, or developing code himself, he's reviewing laptops or MP3 Players.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Adam_Knife

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