PHP to SQL Server connection

I want to connect to a SQL Server 2000 from PHP installed in a unix platform (CentOs) and to be able to run queries (SELECT and UPDATE). The solution must support UTF-8 data.

As search through the web, I find out that there exists开发者_如何转开发 many different approaches (freeTDS, unixODBC, ODBTP, Easysoft ODBC, Easysoft ODBC-ODBC Bridge, PDO).

Could someone point me to the best solution for the specific connection?

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PDO is the preferred library a.t.m, with PDO_DBLIB (at least, for Linux), see here. if you need it portable between Linux & Windows, use PDO_ODBC.

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The fact that PDO_DBLIB was (and still is) experimental discourage me from using it. I decided to start testing a solution using freeTDS, that seemed to be the simpliest method. It turned out to function excellent, for that specific connection's case and I implemented the final application using it.