MySQL: How to allow remote connection to mysql

Question

I have installed MySQL Community Edition 5.5 on my local machine and I want to allow remote connections so that I can connect from external source.

How can I do that

Answer 1

Enabling remote root access can be dangerous. It would be preferable if you were to set up user accounts with more restrictive permissions. The following three steps should do it.

1. Ensure that the line starting with bind-address ... is at least commented out in your my.ini or my.cnf file. If it doesn't exist, move on. You can find this file in C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 8.0 on Windows.

2. Afterwards, check that the user account you are establishing the connection with does not have localhost in the Limit to Hosts Matching field. While it isn't recommended, you can instead put % in that field for testing purposes. You can do this by opening a local connection to the server with MySQL Workbench, then going to Server>Users and Privileges from the menu bar and finding the user account you want to connect with.

The "Limit to Hosts Matching" field is what disallows you to connect non-locally. I.e. it limits the accepted connections to a pattern of IP addresses. Ideally, you should be accessing the MySQL server from a static IP address or subnet, so that you can be as restrictive as possible.

3. Obviously, your firewall should allow the MySQL Server application to communicate over the port you want. The physical networking equipment in between you and your server should allow communication on the port you want to connect with. (port 3306 typically)