If you use the MySQL database, chances are you’re always looking for a better tool to make the administration a bit easier. Fortunately, there are a number of such tools available. One is MyWebSQL. This tool is lesser known than its competition (such as phpMyAdmin). But this particular tool (which can work with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite databases) provides a great WYSIWYG interface for managing your database and offers these benefits:

  • It’s compatible with all major web browsers.
  • You can create/edit table structures via WYSIWYG.
  • It lets you edit and delete multiple records at the same time.
  • It offers syntax highlighting.
  • You can export databases, tables, and query results.
  • You can use MySQL-related tools.
  • Installation is easy.
  • Zero configuration is necessary.
  • It’s open source.

The easy installation will appeal to many administrators. Beyond that, MyWebSQL has a nice interface that makes working with your databases almost effortless. So let’s install MyWebSQL.

What you’ll need

I’ll be installing MyWebSQL on Ubuntu 16.04. Although it can be installed on Ubuntu 18.04, the login process seems to be broken. It is also possible to install this tool on CentOS (the installation of which is quite similar to that of Ubuntu, with only slight modification). With that said, you’ll need a running LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) server. In this instance, the “L” portion will be Ubuntu Server 16.04. You’ll also need to have a user who can log into the MySQL prompt (be that root or another user).

SEE: Securing Linux policy (Tech Pro Research)

Installing dependencies

Only a few dependencies are necessary. Open up a terminal window and issue the following commands:

sudo apt install wget zip
sudo apt install php-pgsql

Once those dependencies install, download the necessary file with the command:

wget https://excellmedia.dl.sourceforge.net/project/mywebsql/stable/mywebsql-3.7.zip

Unzip and permit

After the zipped file downloads, unzip it with the command:

unzip mywebsql-3.7.zip -d /var/www/html/

Now give the directory the necessary permissions with these commands:

sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/mywebsql/
sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www/html/mywebsql/

Restart and check

It’s time to restart Apache. Do so with the command:

sudo systemctl restart apache2

With the web server restarted, let’s check to make sure we have everything installed. Point a web browser to http://SERVER_IP/mywebsql/install.php (where SERVER_IP is the actual IP address of your server). You should see a page that lists the output of various environment tests (Figure A). If there are any failures, address them and refresh this page.

Figure A

As you can see, I don’t have the SQLite client library installed. That’s fine, as I am not using MyWebSQL for SQLite. Once everything has passed, point your browser to http://SERVER_IP/mywebsql/ and log in with your MySQL username and password. You should then land on the main MyWebSQL page (Figure B).

Figure B

All set

That’s all there is to installing this well-designed, web-based database management tool. Kick the tires of MyWebSQL and see if it doesn’t very quickly become your go-to MySQL admin tool.

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