Enabling Linked Tables in phpMyAdmin

This is what I was running when I got this to work:

• WAMP Server 2.0
• Apache 2.0.63
• PHP 5.2.8
• MySQL 5.1.36

Step 1: Edit and run create_tables.sql

This sql file is included with phpMyAdmin, in a wamp installation it can be found at: C:\wamp\apps\phpmyadmin3.2.0.1\scripts\create_tables.sql

On many Linux systems that file can be located at /etc/phpmyadmin/config.inc.php

There are two sections at the top which are usually commented out – one to create a phpmyadmin database, and one to create a phpmyadmin user. I usually just create the database myself and I prefer to use the following command in the next step to create the user. So, after creating the database, I usually just run the file as it originally came.

Step 2: Create a control user (controluser):

You’re on your own if you used the script above to create your control user, and you probably know what you’re doing. If you don’t, however, I recommend these mysql commands:

CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'pmapass';
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON phpmyadmin.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost';

Step 3: Edit config.inc.php:

Add these lines to your config.inc.php file and then you should be good to go!

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pmadb'] = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['bookmarktable'] = 'pma_bookmark';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['relation'] = 'pma_relation';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_info'] = 'pma_table_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['table_coords'] = 'pma_table_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['pdf_pages'] = 'pma_pdf_pages';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['column_info'] = 'pma_column_info';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['history'] = 'pma_history';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['designer_coords'] = 'pma_designer_coords';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['tracking'] = 'pma_tracking';

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controluser']   = 'phpmyadmin';
$cfg['Servers'][$i]['controlpass']   = 'pmapass';

Troubleshooting:

If you’re getting the message “The additional features for working with linked tables have been deactivated. To find out why click here.” or something similar, it probably means you don’t have the pmadb, controluser, and/or controlpass set up correctly to corresponding users in the database.

If you’re getting a message saying  “not OK [ Documentation ]” but the first line ($cfg[‘Servers’][$i][‘pmadb’]) says OK, you either need to adjust the table names, or overcome something more complex. For me, after I switched to Apache 2.0 from 2.2 it started working.

ps: After installing, I was getting this to work fine with firefox 3.5, however, it was a no-go on google chrome.

Good luck.

Also see:

• Guide to general pma Config on PmaWiki
• PmaWiki entry on pmadb
• Another example / guide from Rick

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