title: OCI8 php extension installation on windows server
body: <p>I have specific problem with making OCI8 work on my server installation.</p>
  
  <p>First setup:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Win 2008 Server 32bit </li>
  <li>ZendServer for PHP with Apache2.2</li>
  <li>PHP version 5.3.14 which was without php_oci8 files</li>
  <li>No oracle things installed</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>I need to be able to connect to remote oracle database, so I find out, that OCI8 extension should be used. To make OCI8 work, I also should need at least Oracle Instant Client on server, because of certain DLL OCI8 need.</p>
  
  <p>What I did?</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>downloaded Oracle Instant Client from their sites ( <a href="http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/winsoft-085727.html" rel="noreferrer">oracle download site</a> ), version 11.2.0.4.0</li>
  <li>unpacked into folder, I choosed Program Files/oci_11_2</li>
  <li>added to windows variable path the address</li>
  <li>restarted Win</li>
  <li>downloaded php_oci8 libraries from PECL ( <a href="http://pecl.php.net/package/oci8" rel="noreferrer">PECL oci8 dl site</a> )</li>
  <li>put them into the ext directory set in php.ini</li>
  <li>added extension=php_oci8.dll into php.ini</li>
  <li>restarted apache</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>After all this I checked php_info to see, if everything is ok, however no signs of oci8.</p>
  
  <p>I tried older Oracle instant client, swtiching between php_oci8.dll, php_oci8_11g.dll or php_oci8_12c.dll, yet nothing helped.</p>
  
  <p>I found, that due to php_info in environment section doesn't show the same values, as one that are set in windows.
  From php error log I also got following:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>[30-May-2014 08:02:16 UTC] PHP Warning:  PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library 'C:\Program Files\Zend\ZendServer\lib\phpext\php_oci8_11g.dll' - The specified module could not be found.
     in Unknown on line 0</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>Currently, I have no idea what to do, unless trying reinstalling php(which I don't want to because of many problematics connected with that), different Oracle instant clients or differenct php_oci8 libraries. I google for some hours, tried looking on Stack, but no solution, just some tips, that didn't help. Have someone encountered and solved something similar?</p>