Review of phpMyAdmin
For most developers, going into the command line to meticulously set up and edit their MySQL databases can be a chore. Others seem to get some sort of sick pleasure out of it, but the rest of the civilized world prefers some sort of application to handle routine database creation and management because it speeds up the process and makes life easier.
There are tons of different clients and applications to manage your databases, but one of the most popular is phpMyAdmin due to its versatility and power. Its latest version, 3.2, offers handling of the latest version of MySQL and runs on PHP 5.2+. phpMyAdmin has been repeatedly declared the “Best Tool or Utility for SysAdmins” by Sourceforge.net year after year, and the reason for those accolades is because they have constantly churned out a product that deserves it.
The Positives
The most obvious positive is that it definitely beats the command line. It's a PHP based technology, which means that you can access your databases through a web browser whether you're at the machine or remotely. It has been in development for over 10 years and is currently receiving strong support as patches and bug-fixes see few delays.
It is available in 55 languages, and the documentation is superb. If you are having an issue, you're quite likely to find a responsive community who will either assist you with your problem directly or direct you to the portion of the documentation that will assist you.
Its feature list includes the ability to export and import data from other bases, do routine backups, viewing statistics, and performing almost all of the functions you'll need on a day-to-day basis. If there isn't a supported feature you need to do through the command line, you can still execute any SQL statement through the browser. The user interface, while loathed by some, is clean and moderately responsive, but that is a matter of taste.
The Negatives
Some users believe that a web-accessible database client is less secure, so phpMyAdmin has received some criticism for that, but the choice to make it accessible remotely is up to the user. One of the primary complaints is in regards to the user interface, as some find it to be clunky. The next on the list would be the speed of the application, which can be slow on older servers or slow connections.
For those who use versions of PHP older than 5.2, their phpMyAdmin experience will be limited to the 2.x branch as 3.0+ is a part of the GoPHP5 initiative and no longer supports older versions.
Conclusions
Throughout the past few years, phpMyAdmin has almost become synonymous with MySQL as so many developers consider it an indispensable tool. While there are other applications which accomplish the same goal, phpMyAdmin's active development and attractive price (free) has made it one of the most accessible tools, and all of the work that has gone into it shows. If you haven't tried it, you're missing out.
Download phpMyAdmin
Post new comment