How to manage MySQL databases remotely

[gazzie]

This is a guide for cPanel users, so sorry Plesk guys. :P

Now, I don't really like phpMyAdmin that much for managing my MySQL databases. IMHO, it's way too clunky. My personal preference is SQLyog, but your preferences may differ. That's fine since this tutorial works for any MySQL database manager.

The first step would be to allow MySQL to allow remote access. Login to your cPanel account and scroll down to the Databases section. Click on Remote MySQL.

In the page the comes up, you should see a form that says Add Access Host. This is where you add your IP address so you can access your database remotely. If you have a static IP address, just type it in. If you don't know your IP address, just visit whatismyip.com to get your IP address.

Most ISPs use dynamic IP addresses, which means your IP address changes every time you get online, so you'll need to adjust this step a bit. You could type in your new IP address manually every time it changes, but that can get tiring. Or you can use % as a wildcard, instead, which will allow connections from any IP address. That means anybody will be able to connect (if they know the database name, username and password). If only the last part (or last two parts) of your IP address changes, then you can use a wildcard only for the last two parts, like 63.192.%.%

Now that you've set cPanel to allow remote access to the MySQL database, you'll need to use your database manager to connect to your database. The settings may differ from program to program, but the usual settings are:

MySQL host address: your domain name (eg. domain.com)
Port: 3306 (this is the default port)
Database name: the name of the database you're trying to access
Username: the user assigned to that database
Password: the password of the database user

And that's it. Hope you guys find it useful.

[Dave M]

Thanks for the tutorial, gazzie! I've always used phpmyadmin for any MySQL stuff, but if SQLyog is easier, then I probably will use it. It'll nice to be able to work on my databases without having to open cPanel all the time.

[iamsam]

Hmm... interesting tutorial. Looks like something I can definitely play around with. I am a bit leery of accessing anything through a non-secured connection, though. Is there any way to access your databases securely?

[squishy]

Nice tutorial! It looks like an interesting thing to try out. Is this only for managing an existing database, or can you also use this for creating new ones?