What is Adminer and is it suitable as an alternative to phpMyAdmin?

For a long time, phpMyAdmin was considered the universal tool for database management with MySQL or MariaDB, offering high security and functionality regardless of one's own IT structures, such as on dedicated or VPS hosting. This has led to the tool being widely regarded as the standard in web hosting, also being provided to customers for managing their own databases. However, both operators and users often overlook potential alternatives like the more than ten-year-old project Adminer, which offers similar functionality but with its own priorities. The four key criteria for software to be used as a productive database management tool for MySQL and MariaDB include security, performance, a user-friendly interface, and minimal size - features and qualities that make Adminer a suitable and powerful competitor to the de facto standard phpMyAdmin.

Contents:

What is the task of a database management tool like phpMyAdmin or Adminer?
What background does Adminer have?
What advantages does Adminer have over phpMyAdmin?
What are the disadvantages of Adminer?

What is the task of a database management tool like phpMyAdmin or Adminer?

Since the 1970s, database management has been an important element for the administration of information and has become the foundation for the dynamic construction of websites, especially since the turn of the millennium. In this context, tools like phpMyAdmin and Adminer have become indispensable for direct access and manipulation of records, meeting conditions such as:

• Clear interface for SQL command syntax
• Secure user authentication via web interfaces
• Immediate access to various systems such as MySQL, MSSQL, SQLite, or MariaDB
• Continuous logging of actions through log files
• High performance through direct interaction with the server
• Minimal exchange of metadata (overhead) for optimal bandwidth
• Abstraction between text-based commands and the graphical user interface
• Unified database management for servers, projects, or users
• Creation and deployment of backups to existing or new servers

For users, both phpMyAdmin and Adminer offer a graphical interface (GUI) in the form of a dynamic webpage, through which an administrator can directly connect to the database server without needing to access other more complex methods such as an SSH account. This provides specific advantages in database management, as the software serves as an interface between manual interaction and automated queries, offering advanced functions such as structure congruence or data integrity control. It frees the user from the need to know standard SQL syntax, allowing them instead to access and manipulate databases via a webpage as an input mask on MySQL or MariaDB.

What is the background of Adminer?

Adminer is a database management tool that has been released and developed under the open source licenses Apache and GPL2 since 2007, initially using the project name phpMinAdmin. The fundamental principle behind it is to create a minimalistic software that meets five key requirements in a structured manner:

• Security in authentication and data processing
• Clean and intuitive interface for maximum user-friendliness
• High performance through optimized code and direct queries
• Extensive functionality with few and efficient routines
• Minimal size and transparent, traceable programming

Although they perform identical tasks, Adminer positions itself as a direct competitor to phpMyAdmin. The latter is known for its professional interface and numerous options for individual or collective access, but it follows the traditional concept of a specialised Content Management System (CMS) and consumes a significant amount of resources due to the distribution across numerous PHP scripts and CSS stylesheets. In contrast, Adminer consists of a single, compact PHP file that is stripped down to essential functions. While this may limit the design and style of the database management, making it challenging for a web hosting provider to customise the interface for commercial purposes, Adminer's approach provides optimal conditions for quick installation, user-friendly operation, and a secure interface between the user and server.

What advantages does Adminer have over phpMyAdmin?

Despite offering similar functionality, Adminer and phpMyAdmin adopt entirely different approaches. While both focus on a secure and functional interface, Adminer emphasises maximum efficiency and easy installation. It is sufficient to simply upload the software consisting of a single PHP script via FTP to a web hosting service and place it in a publicly accessible directory.

In contrast, phpMyAdmin is almost like a specialised CMS, offering more extensive customisation options. This flexibility allows, for example, a company like a web hosting provider to customise the design or interface. This provides greater choices in visual presentation or, due to its high market share, better integration with other software for managing virtual or dedicated servers such as Plesk, DirectAdmin, or Webmin.

Functionally, the main differences lie primarily in the integration into external interfaces for web hosting administration or in a personalised display for private or commercial purposes, while the capabilities and technical objectives of Adminer and phpMyAdmin are largely identical. Therefore, the choice between Adminer and phpMyAdmin is primarily determined by the purpose - if the interface is used exclusively privately or internally, there are no disadvantages to using Adminer.

However, if database management is to be embedded in external software and furthermore customised in its appearance, the more complex and versatile phpMyAdmin is recommended for this purpose. For maximum IT security, it is always advisable to secure the interface of Adminer or phpMyAdmin with additional measures - for example, through further authentication using an HTACCESS query.

Adminer offers particular advantages in performance. The software is deliberately lightweight, designed for an unusually low consumption of resources, and optimised to occupy minimal storage space and computing power due to its small footprint of only about 400 Kb. It is therefore an ideal choice for efficiently managing large databases on a virtual or dedicated server with low performance.

What are the disadvantages of Adminer?

Adminer is software developed according to the widely used KISS principle in Linux - the abbreviation stands for "Keep it simple (and) stupid". The concept - in a loose translation, it could be described as the guideline to design software in development and application simply, clearly, and understandably - involves reducing to essential elements and a clear distribution of tasks. Therefore, the design and style of the interface often have little relevance for applications developed according to KISS and are therefore also not a criterion for their development or use.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Adminer lacks some features that are expected today by some users accustomed to modular systems like website builders or complex CMS. It does not support plugins or other extensions and fundamentally lacks an application programming interface (API) for these or embedding in external software. Therefore, individual customisations must be made directly in the source code and require knowledge of PHP, CSS, and HTML programming. However, there are now numerous themes available to aesthetically customise the minimalist user interface of Adminer.

Overall, Adminer presents itself as a reliable, secure, and flexible database management tool for MariaDB, MySQL, and other formats, specifically designed for quick and convenient deployment on your own dedicated and virtual servers. Its minimal concept, compared to PhpMyAdmin, requires no configuration or installation, allowing for swift uploads via FTP and immediate deletion, ensuring safe and easy access to databases.

Photo: Gerd Altmann on Pixabay