How To Use MongoDB and PHP 5.3 on DreamHost

Posted: December 20th, 2010 | Author: Daniel McOrmond | Filed under: How-To, Technology | 3 Comments »

Phillip Napieralski wrote a helpful post about How to Setup MongoDB PHP Extension on Shared Hosting earlier this year.

Here are some more specific details about how to get the MongoDB driver working with PHP 5.3 on DreamHost.

First, make sure the PHP mode for your domain is set to PHP 5.3 FastCGI in your DreamHost Web Panel.

SSH to your server and download the latest MongoDB PHP driver:

wget http://download.github.com/mongodb-mongo-php-driver-1.1.0-0-g6eab09c.tar.gz

Extract the source code:

tar zxvf mongodb-mongo-php-driver-1.1.0-0-g6eab09c.tar.gz

Change directories:

cd mongodb-mongo-php-driver-b177907

Run phpize using 5.3:

phpize-5.3

Configure using PHP 5.3

./configure --with-php-config=/usr/local/php53/bin/php-config

Compile:

make

You should now have a compiled mongo.so extension in the modules/ folder.

Setup your domain(s) to use a custom php.ini file following DreamHost’s instructions here.

When you’re creating your script wrapper, make sure you use the PHP 5.3 executable. My php-wrapper.fcgi looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
exec /dh/cgi-system/php53.cgi $*

Finally, add the following lines to your custom php.ini

extension_dir = "/full/path/to/your/mongodb-mongo-php-driver-b177907/modules"
extension = mongo.so

Obviously, replace the path above to match the full path to your modules/ directory. You should now see the mongo extension listed when you run a phpinfo().

Let me know how this works for you in the comments below!

Note: These instructions work well for connecting to a hosted instance of MongoDB, like MongoHQ. DreamHost terms of service prevent you from running your own MongoDB service on a shared hosting plan. In order to run a legitimate MongoDB server, you’ll probably need to upgrade to a DreamHost VPS.

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