problems using Zend_Db when running php as cli script - zend-framework

Question

I am trying to add some administration scripts to a Zend Framework project, that will end up being run nightly via cron.
However I've hit my first problem with the script when trying to use Zend_Db. I am currently doing a very simple SQL call to get some results and just display them using var_dump() however I get the following error message:
SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)
The script so far looks like this:
<?php
chdir(dirname(__FILE__));
error_reporting(E_ALL|E_STRICT);
ini_set('display_errors', 1);
date_default_timezone_set('Europe/London');
//directory setup and class loading
set_include_path('.' . PATH_SEPARATOR . '../library/' . PATH_SEPARATOR . '../application/models/'
. PATH_SEPARATOR . '../library/MyApp/'
. PATH_SEPARATOR . get_include_path());
include "Zend/Loader/Autoloader.php";
$autoloader = Zend_Loader_Autoloader::getInstance();
$autoloader->setFallbackAutoloader(true);
//start sessions
Zend_Session::start();
//read configuration data
$config = new Zend_Config_Xml('../application/config/config.xml', 'app');
//we create an ability to capture errors and write them to an error log if there are problems.
$log = new Zend_Log();
$writer = new Zend_Log_Writer_Stream($config->log->logfile);
$log->addWriter($writer);
$filter = new Zend_Log_Filter_Priority((int)$config->log->level);
$log->addFilter($filter);
//we now need to get the list of graduates that need to have their CV's removed from the search engine
$date = new Zend_Date();
$date->sub(3, Zend_Date::MONTH);
echo $date->get(Zend_Date::ISO_8601);
$sql = "SELECT userid, guid FROM users WHERE lastlogin = ? AND active = 1";
$db = Zend_Db::factory($config->database);
try{
$results = $db->fetchAll($sql, $date->get(Zend_Date::ISO_8601));
var_dump($results);
}catch(Zend_Db_Exception $dbe){
$log->debug($dbe->getMessage()."\n".$dbe->getTraceAsString());
}
//close database.
if($db->isConnected()){
$db->closeConnection();
}
What am I missing? I know that the database connection settings in the Zend_Config object works and the web application is running fine with no issues.
I am running this using Zend Framework v1.7.6 at present.
Also are there any generic tips for using the Zend Framework in a cli script?
Many thanks.

Answer 1

PHP will try to connect to mysql via tcp/ip, unless the mysql server is on the same machine as the script and "localhost" is used as the db host. Then it will use a filesystem socket.
It could be that mysql cannot create /tmp/mysql.sock due to permissions, or that it's not configured to do so. The Mysql manual should have more on that.
A quick way to get around this for now should be to change the db host in your Zend_Db settings to an actual ip mysql listens on, not "localhost" or "127.0.0.1".

Answer 2

also check your php.ini and look for the mysql_sock
this is often a trap for Mac users with Mamp installed: Snow Leopard comes with a php configured which is separate to the ph included with Mamp