Install OCI8 on CentOS/Redhat/Fedora

Install OCI8 on CentOS/Redhat/Fedora

The post will describe how to Install OCI8 on CentOS/Redhat/Fedora in step by step. The easiest way to configure PHP to access Oracle Database is to use Oracle Instant Client libraries. This note describes how to install PHP with the OCI8 Extension and Oracle Instant Client on CentOS/Redhat/Fedora. OCI8 is the PHP extension for connecting to Oracle Database. You need to install two packages: oracle-instant-client and php oci8 extension. It is assumed that PHP with pecl package is installed in your server

1. Check your server architecture and OS version

   # uname -a
   Linux localhost 2.6.32-220.el6.x86_64 #1 SMP Wed Nov 9 08:03:13 EST
   2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

   el6 means it is enterprise linux 6 and x86_64 means it is 64 bit machine. For 32 bit machine it would be i386

2. Download two RPM packages: oracle-instantclient basic and oracle-instantclient devel from instant client downloads page .
   Here you need to choose “Instant Client for Linux x86_64”. For 32 bit machine you should select “Instant Client for Linux x86”.
   Download red tick instant client basic RPM package.
   Scroll down and download red tick instant client devel rpm package.
   
3. Install the RPMs as the root user

   # rpm -Uvh oracle-instantclient12.1-basic-12.1.0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm
   Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
      1:oracle-instantclient12.########################################### [100%]
   # rpm -Uvh oracle-instantclient12.1-devel-12.1.0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm
   Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
      1:oracle-instantclient12.########################################### [100%]

   The instantclient library and executable files are generally installed on /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/ for 64 bit machine and on /usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client/ for 32 machine

4. Set environment variables ORACLE_HOME and LD_LIBRARY_PATH

   # ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64; export ORACLE_HOME
   # LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib:/lib:/usr/lib; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH

   You should also add the above two lines in ~/.bash_profile file. Edit the file by vi editor and add the lines above PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin

   #vim  ~/.bash_profile

   After edited the file would be

   # .bash_profile
   # Get the aliases and functions
   if [ -f ~/.bashrc ]; then
           . ~/.bashrc
   fi
   
   # User specific environment and startup programs
   
   ORACLE_HOME=/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64; export ORACLE_HOME
   LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/lib:/lib:/usr/lib; export LD_LIBRARY_PATH
   PATH=$PATH:$HOME/bin
   
   export PATH
   

5. Check you have php-pear and php-devel packages installed by this command. You must have these package installed

   # rpm -qa | grep -i php
   php-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-cli-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-devel-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-common-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-mysql-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-soap-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64
   php-pear-1.9.4-4.el6.noarch
   php-gd-5.3.3-3.el6_1.3.x86_64

6. Install oci8 extension

   # pecl install oci8

   You will be asked to provide instantclient library path and so provide the instant cleint library path just you installed( put instantclient then coma then library path)

   Please provide the path to the ORACLE_HOME directory. Use 'instantclient,/path/to/instant/client/lib' if you're compiling with Oracle Instant Client [autodetect] :instantclient,/usr/lib/oracle/12.1/client64/lib

   After pressing enter ,at the end portion you will see the line “Build process completed successfully”

   Build process completed successfully
   Installing '/usr/lib64/php/modules/oci8.so'
   install ok: channel://pecl.php.net/oci8-2.0.6
   configuration option "php_ini" is not set to php.ini location
   You should add "extension=oci8.so" to php.ini

7. Add “extension=oci8.so” to /etc/php.ini file just below the [PHP] line and it would like

   [PHP]
   extension=oci8.so
   ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
   ; About php.ini   ;
   ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
   ; PHP's initialization file, generally called php.ini, is responsible for
   ; configuring many of the aspects of PHP's behavior.

8. Restart Web Server(Apache or Nginx)

   # /etc/init.d/httpd restart

9. Now check oci8 extension is installed and OCI8 Support is enabled

   # echo "<?php print phpinfo();?>" | php | grep -i oci
   oci8
   OCI8 Support => enabled
   OCI8 DTrace Support => disabled
   OCI8 Version => 2.0.6
   oci8.connection_class => no value => no value
   oci8.default_prefetch => 100 => 100
   oci8.events => Off => Off
   oci8.max_persistent => -1 => -1
   oci8.old_oci_close_semantics => Off => Off
   oci8.persistent_timeout => -1 => -1
   oci8.ping_interval => 60 => 60
   oci8.privileged_connect => Off => Off
   oci8.statement_cache_size => 20 => 20
   

The above procedure regarding “Install OCI8 on CentOS/Redhat/Fedora” should work for major version of Linux distribution