Writing Apache Modules with Perl and C

5.6. Storing State Information in SQL Databases

Persistent memory is only suitable for storing small amounts of state information for relatively short periods of time. If you need to reliably store lots of information for a long time, you need a server-side database.

The DBI library, designed by Tim Bunce and others, is a generic Perl interface to relational database management systems (DBMSs) that speak SQL (Standard Query Language). The DBI library speaks to specific databases by way of DBD (Database Driver) modules. You can make queries on any database that has a DBD module available for it. These modules are sometimes provided by the database vendor and sometimes by third parties. DBD modules for Oracle, Sybase, Illustra, mSQL, MySQL, and others can be found at CPAN.

Full information on using DBI can be found in its manual pages and in Advanced Perl Programming by Sriram Srinivasan (O'Reilly & Associates, 1997). We'll summarize just enough here so that you can follow the examples if you're not already familiar with DBI.

Before you can work with the DBI interface, you must select and install a relational database. If you have access to a Unix system and do not already have such a database installed, a good one to start with is MySQL, a popular database management system that you can freely download from http://www.tcx.se/.^[7]

^[7] MySQL can be used freely for some purposes but must be licensed (for a reasonable price) for others. Please see the licensing terms for full details. ...