At the First Click
Charly's Column – Adminer

Sys admin columnist Charly freely admits that he doesn't like SQL and phpMyAdmin any more than he does COBOL. Instead, meet his new best friend; the slim, attractive database tool known as Adminer.
When I was young and AIX 4 was in its infancy, we had a full-time database administrator at the data center who could not only recite the whole SQL command set forwards, but could also type it backwards. Behind his back, the trainees called him GRANT
[1] father. Fortunately, I didn't inherit his job, because on my popularity scale, SQL ranks at about the same level as COBOL – I learned both once, and I try hard not to use either.
But unlike Cobol, SQL often sticks to the sole of my shoe like a piece of old chewing gum. So, I was looking for a tool that makes the most common SQL operations easier for me and isn't called phpMyAdmin, because I don't like that much either. I hit the bullseye with the tool I found: Adminder [2]! To my mind, this tool gets just about everything right.
First, there is the size. The variant with more than 40 languages gets by with about 470KB. If I limit myself to German or English for the program interface, this drops to hardly more than 300KB. The next surprise: I didn't have to unpack anything, because Adminer consists of a single PHP file. I copied it to a management server on the internal LAN. Adminer users need to go through LDAP authentication just once. Its maker, Jakub Vrána, does not recommend installing the tool directly on the database server.
Minor Interventions
The selection of databases that Adminer understands should be sufficient for most admins: MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQlite, MS SQL, Oracle, Firebird, SimpleDB, Elasticsearch, and MongoDB. Plugins are available from third-party sources, for example for managing Moodle or WordPress databases.
However, I don't need anything like that. I'm usually just doing annoying everyday repairs. For example, when a field in a database is limited to 128 characters, but I want to accommodate 200 characters. Or another common task: I need to quickly add another field to a table. This means that I am only using two percent of Adminer's feature set. But it is simply a pleasure to work with Adminer, and the pleasantly simple design maximizes the fun (Figure 1).
I could even create functions and stored procedures with Adminer – but I prefer to take a more hands-off approach than that. When I'm faced with difficult tasks, I prefer to ask one of the trainees from back in the day, the one they now call GRANT
father behind his back.
Infos
- SQL-GRANT-Kommando: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/grant.html
- Adminer: https://www.adminer.org
Buy this article as PDF
(incl. VAT)
Buy Linux Magazine
Direct Download
Read full article as PDF:
Price $2.95
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
Ubuntu Flatpak Remix Adds Flatpak Support Preinstalled
If you're looking for a version of Ubuntu that includes Flatpak support out of the box, there's one clear option.
-
Gnome 44 Release Candidate Now Available
The Gnome 44 release candidate has officially arrived and adds a few changes into the mix.
-
Flathub Vying to Become the Standard Linux App Store
If the Flathub team has any say in the matter, their product will become the default tool for installing Linux apps in 2023.
-
Debian 12 to Ship with KDE Plasma 5.27
The Debian development team has shifted to the latest version of KDE for their testing branch.
-
Planet Computers Launches ARM-based Linux Desktop PCs
The firm that originally released a line of mobile keyboards has taken a different direction and has developed a new line of out-of-the-box mini Linux desktop computers.
-
Ubuntu No Longer Shipping with Flatpak
In a move that probably won’t come as a shock to many, Ubuntu and all of its official spins will no longer ship with Flatpak installed.
-
openSUSE Leap 15.5 Beta Now Available
The final version of the Leap 15 series of openSUSE is available for beta testing and offers only new software versions.
-
Linux Kernel 6.2 Released with New Hardware Support
Find out what's new in the most recent release from Linus Torvalds and the Linux kernel team.
-
Kubuntu Focus Team Releases New Mini Desktop
The team behind Kubuntu Focus has released a new NX GEN 2 mini desktop PC powered by Linux.
-
KDE Plasma 5.27 Slated for a Valentine's Day Release
The next version of the KDE Plasma desktop is prepped and ready with numerous improvements and plenty of bug fixes.