SQL Server Driver for non-Windows Platforms (Round 2)

Question

Greetings SSDfP Team,

Last year, I asked a question regarding getting the SQL Server Driver available for other Operating Systems besides Windows. At the time, version 1.0 was in the works, and all attention was on a smooth release with current tasks.

Later, I saw some discussion prior to v1.1 about Unix support, and the answer was that there were some other top features that had priority.

Now that v1.1 has been officially released, can you tell us your plans and/or potential timeframes (by the end of the year? Q1 2010?) to expand support to other Operating Systems? I do use SQL Server 2008 on parts of my website, and I'd really like to explore Azure (FreeTDS has trouble with it).

Thanks very much for your time and dedication to bringing us official SQL Server support. :)
-Jason Young

Answer 1

The v1.1 version of the PHP driver works with Windows Azure, but not with non-Windows platforms such as Unix or Linux. The current driver relies on the ODBC driver (more specific, SQL Server 2008 Native Client) for connecting to SQL Server (either SQL 2005 or 2008). In other words, the development of a non-Windows PHP driver has to be preceded by the development of a (Microsoft) ODBC driver on the target platform. This is an avenue that is discussed and considered, but at this time, there no concrete plans and we cannot project any timeline.

Thank you,
Serban

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Serban Iliescu - MSFT