How to connect django developer server to MySQL database?

Question

Before I begin please respect that I'm a newbie, ask me what more information you need to solve this problem rather than close the question or something. ;) OK. I am trying to connect my Django developer server to a MySQL database that is being hosted on a remote server. I've installed MySQL and MySQL-Python and have these settings in 'settings.py':

DATABASES = {
    'default': {
        'ENGINE': 'django.db.backends.mysql', # Add 'postgresql_psycopg2', 'mysql', 'sqlite3' or 'oracle'.
        'NAME': 'database_name',                      # Or path to database file if using sqlite3.
        'USER': 'database_user',                      # Not used with sqlite3.
        'PASSWORD': 'database_password',                  # Not used with sqlite3.
        'HOST': 'db9.subsys.no',                      # Set to empty string for localhost. Not used with sqlite3.
        'PORT': '',                      # Set to empty string for default. Not used with sqlite3.
    }
}

When i try to start the developer server using python manage.py runserver I get this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 91, in inner_run
    self.validate(display_num_errors=True)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 266, in validate
    num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 103, in get_validation_errors
    connection.validation.validate_field(e, opts, f)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/validation.py", line 14, in validate_field
    db_version = self.connection.get_server_version()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 411, in get_server_version
    self.cursor()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/__init__.py", line 306, in cursor
    cursor = self.make_debug_cursor(self._cursor())
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 387, in _cursor
    self.connection = Database.connect(**kwargs)
  File "build/bdist.macosx-10.7-intel/egg/MySQLdb/__init__.py", line 81, in Connect
  File "build/bdist.macosx-10.7-intel/egg/MySQLdb/connections.py", line 187, in __init__
_mysql_exceptions.OperationalError: (2003, "Can't connect to MySQL server on 'db9.subsys.no' (60)")

When I changed 'HOST': 'db9.subsys.no' to 'HOST': '' I got this instead:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/commands/runserver.py", line 91, in inner_run
    self.validate(display_num_errors=True)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 266, in validate
    num_errors = get_validation_errors(s, app)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/core/management/validation.py", line 103, in get_validation_errors
    connection.validation.validate_field(e, opts, f)
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/validation.py", line 14, in validate_field
    db_version = self.connection.get_server_version()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 411, in get_server_version
    self.cursor()
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/__init__.py", line 306, in cursor
    cursor = self.make_debug_cursor(self._cursor())
  File "/Library/Python/2.7/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 387, in _cursor
    self.connection = Database.connect(**kwargs)
  File "build/bdist.macosx-10.7-intel/egg/MySQLdb/__init__.py", line 81, in Connect
  File "build/bdist.macosx-10.7-intel/egg/MySQLdb/connections.py", line 187, in __init__
_mysql_exceptions.OperationalError: (1045, "Access denied for user 'database_user'@'localhost' (using password: YES)")

Is it not possible to connect to MySQL using the developer server or do I need to do some kind of configuration on with the database? Reply if you have the answer or need more information.

Big Thanks in Advance!

Answer 1

Three things you should make sure of if you want to connect to a remote MySQL server:

1. The server is using networking and not sockets (there is no skip-networking line in my.cnf), and the server is listening on the public IP (with bind-address).

2. Your firewall allows remote access to the MySQL port, which is 3306 by default.

3. The user is allowed remote access:

   GRANT ALL ON someDatabase.* to [email protected] IDENTIFIED BY 'foopass';