How to Enable Remote Access to Your MariaDB/MySQL Database on Ubuntu

Enabling remote access to your MariaDB or MySQL database is essential for accessing your database from another server or application. This guide walks you through configuring your MariaDB/MySQL instance for remote access manually via the command line.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• Shell (SSH) access to your VPS.
• Familiarity with basic Linux commands.

Step 1: Verify MariaDB Server

1. Make sure the MariaDB server is running. Run the following command:bashCopyEdit$ ps -ef | grep -i mysql Example output:bashCopyEditmysql 595 1 0 04:17 ? 00:00:00 /usr/sbin/mysqld root 1350 1337 0 04:22 pts/0 00:00:00 grep --color=auto -i mysql
2. Check if MariaDB is listening on localhost:bashCopyEdit$ netstat -ant | grep 3306 Example output:bashCopyEdittcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:3306 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN

Step 2: Configure MariaDB for Remote Access

MariaDB is configured to deny connections from remote servers by default. Follow these steps to allow remote connections:

1. Edit the Configuration FileLocate and edit the MariaDB configuration file to update the bind-address directive. Use one of the following commands:bashCopyEdit$ nano /etc/mysql/my.cnf orbashCopyEdit$ sudo nano /etc/mysql/mariadb.conf.d/50-server.cnf
2. Update the bind-addressFind the bind-address directive and change its value from 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0:confCopyEditbind-address = 0.0.0.0
3. Save and Restart MariaDBSave the changes and restart the MariaDB service to apply them:bashCopyEdit$ sudo systemctl restart mariadb

Step 3: Verify the Changes

Check the listening status of MariaDB again to confirm the update:

bashCopyEdit$ netstat -ant | grep 3306

Expected output:

bashCopyEdittcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3306            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN

This confirms that MariaDB is now listening on all available IP addresses.

Conclusion

You’ve successfully enabled remote access to your MariaDB/MySQL database. You can now connect to the database from a remote server or application. For enhanced security, remember to:

• Configure a strong password for your database user.
• Use a firewall to allow connections only from trusted IP addresses.