• Install support packages

sudo aptitude install freetds-dev

sudo aptitude install tdsodbc

• Modify the Freetds file to access the server: sudo nano /etc/freetds/freetds.conf (not sure if this is necessary)

# Our SQL Server
[FSData]
host = 192.168.x.x
port = 1433
tds version = 8.0

• Tell UnixODBC where to find the FreeTDS driver and give it a name:
  • Modify /etc/odbcinst.ini

[FreeTDS]
Description = FreeTDS 0.61-5 Deb
Driver = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsodbc.so
Setup = /usr/lib/odbc/libtdsS.so
FileUsage = 1
CPTimeout = 5
CPReuse = 5

• • Modify the odbc.ini file: sudo nano /etc/odbc.ini

[Products]
Description = Products on Our MSSQL Server
Driver = FreeTDS
Servername = FSData
Database = Products

• Download dpkg

sudo aptitude install dpkg-dev

• Download php-src

sudo aptitude source php5

• Go into the new php5 directory
• Edit the debian/rules file - add the following to the common config sudo nano debian/rules

--with-mssql

• build dependencies

sudo aptitude build-dep php5

• build the package

sudo dpkg-buildpackage

• install the new PHP w/ MSSQL

sudo dpkg -i php5_5*.deb

• copy the new libphp5.so to the correct directory (otherwise it will still use the old one)

sudo cp ~/php5-*/apache2-build/libs/libphp5.so /usr/lib/apache2/modules/libphp5.so

• restart Apache

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Im going to give Ubuntu a try to see if I can avoid switching back to Debian. Not that I dont like Debian, but it is just a big pain to get things set up.

Update: I got Ubuntu installed and it works like a dream. I expected this since it is built on debian. It is much easier to manage and is better documented. The community is a lot less 1337 than the Debian community. It makes it a lot easier to get help when linux is not your full time job / life.