Installation procedure of the maxdb - php module might be a bit troublesome for some part. Me, among others (judjing by forum threads) have managed to get problems when trying to install the maxdb-php module whithout any errorcodes. Making it hard to fix..:)
however, the ODBC-version of MaxDB / SapDB shouldn't be any troubles installing. There's a guide for this at the page:
http://maxdb.yapabout.com/viewtopic.php?t=21
Ofcourse, then the PHP ODBC should be used, not the MaxDB -php version.