Appendix B. Setting Up 3 Tier Client Server Environment
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Appendix B. Setting Up 3 Tier Client Server Environment

Table of Contents

Apache, MySQL, PHP
Prerequisites
MySQL setup under Windows
MySQL setup on OS X on a Mac
MySQL setup on Linux
MySQL irrespective of OS
Daily use of MySQL
Installation of Sample Database(s)

Apache, MySQL, PHP

The client environment is already present on your computer, otherwise you couldn't use it. You need software for the tiers 2 and 3. In practical terms this means downloading and installing a package. The current recommendation is XAMPP for Windows, MAC and Linux based computers. The A is the web server Apache,, the M is the Database Management System MySQL, and the P is the programming language PHP.

In case you only need the Database Management System you may choose to get MySQL only. In that case you can still follow this guide, just ignore the references to Apache and PHP.

In the opposite case where you don't need the Database Management System you may install the package anyway. In that case you can still follow this guide through the installation. You don't make any of the adaptations for MySQL.

XAMPP may be downloaded from here .

When you are on the download page follow the instructions for download and installation. If you work on Windows, choose installation method A.

Stop all running programs (ie SKYPE) and install. If asked, make sure that you indicate that Apache and/or MySQL are cheked to run as services. It is free in terms of computer resources until you need the services.

Experience show that if you will do web work with PHP of the installation, you may experience permissions problems on Windows systems, even though you have designated yourself an administrator. My sources say that installing the package directly in C:\ will circumvent those problems.

Start the server from the XAMPP control panel. In the rare case when you are not working with databases, meaning primarily frontend work, you are done with this appendix now. Otherwise we now need to tweak a couple of settings for easier daily use.

Start a terminal emulation, I believe the name is terminal. Then observing cAsE type the following: 

echo "PATH=$PATH:/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin" >> .bash_profile
export PATH >> .bash_profile
source .bash_profile

On most linuces, mysql is placed in /usr/bin thus already on the path. For once Linux beats the usability of the others.

  • Start Mysql as root through terminal mode emulation. 

    mysql -u root

    When you have the terminal window, signified with a mysql > write as follows to create a user (press enter at the end of each line), replace xxxx with your username, and yyyy with your password. The zzzz being the password you want for the administrator. 

    use mysql;
delete from user where not host = 'localhost';
grant all privileges on *.* to 'root'@'localhost' identified by 'zzzz' with grant option;
grant all privileges on *.* to 'xxxx'@'localhost' identified by 'yyyy' with grant option;
grant all privileges on nobody.* to 'nobody'@'localhost' identified by 'test';
flush privileges;
exit;

    You have now created yourself as a privileged database user called xxxx with the password yyyy, and a simple user nobody withe the password test.

    The significance of this is that whoever creates the database, you, has the full set of privileges to the database. Once the database is delegated to use by programs, eg on the web, we want the available access rights to be only as liberal as the situation demands, not more. For this we grant the appropriate rights to nobody impersonated by the programs.

Upon installation of the server we need two databases for tests and experiments. They may be downloaded as worldFK.sql, and cms0.sql by right clicking and saving in your personal root dirctory. If you don't know what your personal root is consult your terminal program.

In windows: click Start->write cmd, press enter the terminal prompt reveals your root folder, something like C:\Users\<your name>

In OS X on a Mac: Start terminal, again the prompt tells you something like: /Users/<your name>

Now, start terminal emulation from your root directory, and then invoke mysql as follows (enter at the end of each line): 

mysql -u xxxx -p
yyyy

create database cms0;
use cms0;
\. cms0.sql
commit;
select count(*) from page;

create database world;
use world;
\. worldFK.sql
commit;
select count(*) from country;

Figure B.3. Creation of One of the Databases

Creation of One of the Databases

This must be entered immediately before you press enter for the input process to start.


Please notice the commit; immediately after the program reads the data. When that is done you may write the select-sentence.

If you get the answer 239 from the world database, and the answer 5 from the cms0 database everything is fine. Leave the program with 

quit

Figure B.4. After the creation

After the creation

The window just before you leave the program:


Quit the terminal window.

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