High Performance MySQL [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

C.2 Practical Examples

In the rest of this appendix we'll describe how to
use phpMyAdmin to accomplish some common tasks.

C.2.1 User Maintenance

User maintenance in
phpMyAdmin functions much as it does in
command-line MySQL operation. The administrator can deal with global
as well as database and table-level privileges.

To administer global privileges, select Privileges from the start
page, which then displays something similar to Figure C-4. Once you have chosen a user to add or remove
privileges from, click the "edit"
link, which will present you with a user editing interface, as shown
in Figure C-5.

Figure C-4. phpMyAdmin global privileges interface

Figure C-5. phpMyAdmin user edit interface

From here, most of the functions are self-explanatory; they allow
administrators to add or remove global privileges, edit any
table-specific privileges the user may have, or change the
user's password. You can also clone the user,
creating one with the same privileges as the original user, but a
different username. This can be handy for adding new database
administrators or other users who have complicated privileges.

Perhaps you wish to see which users have access to a particular
database. From the databases list, select Check Privileges next to
the database you want to check for access on. A list of all users and
the privileges granted to them will be displayed (along with links
for editing those privileges), as shown in Figure C-6.

Figure C-6. phpMyAdmin database level privileges interface

C.2.2 Simple SQL Commands

Often, as an administrator, you will
want to give users the ability to issue simple SQL commands against
the database, but you don't necessarily want to open
up the server to login accounts in general or to give a
"non-sysadmin" user the ability to
get a login shell. In these types of situations, allowing the user in
question to use the phpMyAdmin interface may be
the ideal solution.

There are two basic interfaces available to the user for issuing SQL
commands. One of these is a very simple, raw text area that allows
the users to type in the SQL command they wish to execute. Simply
click on the SQL tab after selecting a table to work with.

There is some helpful JavaScript magic on this page that allows the
user to select column names from a select element
to the right of the free-form text area, so that the user can
minimize his typing, as shown in Figure C-7.

Figure C-7. phpMyAdmin SQL interface

Once executed, the resulting records is displayed as returned by the
user's query. It is possible to edit, or delete an
entry by clicking the note-pad button or the trash-can button,
respectively, next to the record you wish to edit or delete.

The other basic record selection method is the Select tab. This is
designed for simple queries and allows you to impose simple
restrictions on the query being performed, as shown in Figure C-8. The results of that query are displayed in
the same format as the results of the SQL query, and likewise allow
the user to edit or delete specific entries returned by the query.

Figure C-8. phpMyAdmin select interface

C.2.3 Exporting and Downloading Data

The
phpMyAdmin interface
makes retrieving remote dumps of the database as easy as clicking
some buttons on a web form. There are two different Export tabs, one
if you are viewing the database as a whole, the other if you are
looking at a selected table. They are virtually identical except that
the database-wide version also includes a select
item for which tables in the database you wish to export. The
table-wide interface can be seen in Figure C-9.

Figure C-9. phpMyAdmin export interface

As you can see, there are several export options available to the
user. If you are looking for a mysqldump-style
export for possible import into another MySQL installation, you can
select that option. There are CSV options for
"normal" use as well as customized
CSV output to make Microsoft Excel happy.

The different export options each enable different options in the
panel just to the right, specific to the export style in question.
Once you select Go, the data will be formatted per your selection and
output to your browser via the Web, where you can copy and paste it
or save it to your local disk. Alternatively, you may check the
"Save as file" checkbox and simply
save the downloaded file to disk. Note that you might see slightly
odd behavior, though, if you use this feature to export as XML. Your
browser of choice may decide to try to
"handle" the XML by displaying it,
instead of allowing you to simply save it to disk.