[Techtalk] installing DBI without the Database

[Devdas Bhagat]

On 24/02/06 09:29 -0800, Meryll Larkin wrote:
> 2/24/06
> 
> Hi Chix,
> 
> I asked earlier this month about how to access a database from a remote
> webbrowser, this is related, and I think it belongs in tech talk rather than
> programming (let me know if I'm wrong) because it is about installing on
> Linux.
> 
> My Web (Intranet) server is RedHat7.2 (yes, I want to update, if I try to
> push it, I will lose my job - gotta find a new job).  The database is on SCO
> 5.something.  They are actually in the same room and on the same LAN, but
> they are separate servers. 
> 
> I've written a script that does EXACTLY what I need (DBI works, DBD works,
> CGI and Perl works, ISQL works - spits out nice Web page), BUT the script is
> on the SCO machine and the Web server is the RedHat machine. 
> 
> On the RedHat machine, I have Perl 5.61 (which is what I need) and Perl-DBI
> but I need to install either ODBC or DBD::Informix or unixODBC - whichever I
> get to work first.
> 
DBD::ODBC? From the readme

  set-up these environment variables:
  DBI_DSN   The dbi data source, e.g. 'dbi:ODBC:YOUR_DSN_HERE'
  DBI_USER  The username to use to connect to the database
  DBI_PASS  The username to use to connect to the database
  ODBCHOME  (Unix only) The dir your driver manager is installed in
  perl Makefile.PL
  make                (or nmake, if VC++ on Win32)
  make test           (or nmake, if VC++ on Win32)

>From the DBD::Informix readme:
    If you have IBM Informix ODBC drivers available to you, you can
    consider using DBD::ODBC instead.  If you are on Linux, you should
    investigate the software available from the following IBM
    Informix web sites:

           http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix
           http://www.ibm.com/software/data/developer/informix
					   
> I've been working hard getting all the dependencies installed and I'm
> finally ready to install the DBI part and 
> 
> HERE's THE PROBLEM:  In order to install the DBI, (according to the READMES
> that come with the DBDs) I need to set a variable that points to the
> "directory" where my Database lives.  Well, the Database, doesn't live in a
> directory on the Web server.  It lives on the SCO server.  Has anyone every
> done this kind of install before?  What do I do now?  I tried using this
> format:
> 
Does the RDBMS listen on an IP address? If yes, you can just point the
DSN to the appropriate port. If not, you aren't going to have much
success with networked stuff.

> $INFORMIXDIR=scoserverhostname:/usr/informix
> 
> But my error message said that it "isn't a directory" (it is).  Is my format
> incorrect?  I could use the IP address but these servers recognize each
> other's host names.  Is there some way to "fool" the install script?  Is
> there a step that I'm missing?
> 
You could mount the directory over NFS. I am not sure if this would even
work,

You could choose not to do a make test (or just force install instead).

Devdas Bhagat