Connecting to MySQL
MySQL-specific Settings
To connect to a MySQL server, you need:
- The IP address or host name MySQL is running on
- The user name
- The password for the user (if one is required)
TCP/IP vs Unix Socket #
When MySQL is running on the same machine you are connecting from, you usually have two options to connect to the MySQL server.
| TCP/IP | Uses an IP address or host name. |
|---|---|
| Unix Socket | Uses a specific file path declared by the server. |
Typical MySQL configurations from web hosts only allow connecting to the server directly via TCP/IP, encrypted with SSL, or optionally through an SSH tunnel.
Some servers (even remote web hosting services) may be configured to only allow connecting through a Unix Socket, which ensures that the client is on the same machine and is a way of limiting remote connections for security purposes.
Database #
The "Database" setting is an optional setting which tells Querious which database to "focus" the primary sidebar in the Content and Structure views on. The Initial mode uses the value as the starting selection while still allowing you to switch schemas freely; the Exclusive mode locks the connection to that one database. See Connection Database / Schema Options for details.
Security #
Depending on the server configuration, you may need to use SSH, SSL, or both SSH and SSL options to connect.
| None | When selected, the connection does not require encryption at all. By default, modern MySQL uses SSL anyway however, so it'll still likely make a secure connection underneath. |
|---|---|
| SSH | Creating an SSH tunnel involves logging in to the remote machine using SSH, and then Querious will connect to MySQL "through" that tunnel. See SSH Tunnels for options. |
| SSL | Specify SSL options like the server's Certificate Authority file, or a client key file. See SSL Options for more. |
Getting the Password from a Command #
The menu beside the password field offers the two choices:
- Enter Password
- From Shell Command…
Choosing From Shell Command… lets you enter a shell command that prints the password to standard output. When Querious connects, it runs this command to get the password which it then uses to connect to the server.
You can use this option to connect to a server that uses short-lived tokens for authentication, or for getting a password/credential from anywhere else.
Advanced #
Authentication Plugin #
Each MySQL user account is assigned an authentication plugin, which determines how the password is interpreted when logging in. Most of the time, the connection will figure out which plugin to use automatically, but this setting tells Querious which plugin to try first.
| caching_sha2_password | The default for MySQL 8.0 and later. The first login after the server restarts requires either an SSL connection or an RSA key exchange; later logins are verified quickly from the server's cache. |
|---|---|
| mysql_native_password | The older method used by MySQL 5.x and many web hosts. It is deprecated in MySQL 8.0 and disabled by default in MySQL 8.4 and later. |
| sha256_password | An older SHA-256 based method which has been replaced by caching_sha2_password. |
If connecting fails with an error mentioning an authentication plugin or method, set this to the plugin the account uses on the server. Your server administrator can find it in the plugin column of the mysql.user table.
Cleartext Authentication #
Some servers check passwords using an outside system, such as PAM, LDAP, or Amazon RDS IAM authentication. To do that, the server needs to receive the password as plain text rather than as an encrypted hash as normal. Querious will never send your password in plain text unless you explicitly turn this on.
Only turn this on if your server requires it, and only use it with an SSL connection or an SSH tunnel.
Compress Data #
MySQL offers the option to compress the data being sent to and from the server from Querious. Compressing the data can greatly reduce the amount of bandwidth sent over the network connection, but does take some time to perform the compression and decompression.
Generally: turn this on for remote connections and leave it off for local connections. Because the performance impact can vary between servers, Querious allows you to choose what to do.