Making an Oracle RAC connection with PHP

db.php

<?php

## USERNAME / PASSWORD FOR ORACLE DATABASE

$USERID = 'USER';
$PASSWORD = 'PASSWORD';

## RAC CONNECTION STRING

$RAC_CONN_STR = "(DESCRIPTION =
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = first.database.host)(PORT = 1521))
    (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = second.database.host)(PORT = 1521))
    (LOAD_BALANCE = yes)
    (CONNECT_DATA =
      (SERVER = DEDICATED)
      (SERVICE_NAME = dbsvc)
      (FAILOVER_MODE =
        (TYPE = SELECT)
        (METHOD = BASIC)
        (RETRIES = 180)
        (DELAY = 5)
      )
    )
)";

## MAKE A CONNECTION TO THE ORACLE DB
$conn = oci_pconnect($USERID, $PASSWORD, $RAC_CONN_STR);

$stid = oci_parse($conn, "SELECT 'Connection Successful' AS result FROM DUAL");
oci_execute($stid);

echo "<table border='1'>\n";
while ($row = oci_fetch_array($stid, OCI_ASSOC+OCI_RETURN_NULLS)) {
    echo "<tr>\n";
    foreach ($row as $item) {
        echo "    <td>" . ($item !== null ? htmlentities($item, ENT_QUOTES) : "&nbsp;") . "</td>\n";
    }
    echo "</tr>\n";
}
echo "</table>\n";