Using MySQL Remotely

Hi all,

I love being able to administrate MySQL databases remotely, but sometimes using software that allows management on a local machine is a life-saver. This blog will discuss connecting to MySQL databases hosted on your Xengo account using Navicat.

To begin with, we need to log into the control panel and select “Remote MySQL”. This function of the control panel allows you to type in IP addresses which will then allow connections to the server, and then your MySQL databases.

To view your current IP address click here.

With this IP address it can be typed into the Remote MySQL section on your control panel. The main problem that you may find here is that your ISP may allocate you a new IP address each 24 hours or so. To cater for this, I have typed in the first octet of my IP address followed by the % symbol, like the image below:

Next, open up Navicat for MySQL (there is a free trial of this software available from http://navicat.com/en/download/download.html) and click File -> New Connection.

The Connection Name can be anything you like, I chose to use the web site’s address that I’m connecting to.

The Host name/IP address should be the server’s IP address where your domain is hosted.

The Port is fine at its default value of 3306.

The User name is the MySQL username that you have created from the “MySQL Databases” area of your control panel.

The Password is also set up from the “MySQL Databases” area of your control panel.

(One note here, don’t forget to give your MySQL user to your databases!)

After these details have been typed in, click Test Connection and hopefully you should have the following message:

If you cannot connect, ensure that your firewall settings allow connections to port 3306, or raise a support ticket and we can help.

That’s about all for this edition of the blog. Wishing you many happy hours of performing left joins!

-Kevin