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Remote MySQL Settings ​

Remote MySQL Settings holds the server-wide policy for remote database access. Hosting accounts allow individual hosts themselves on their Remote MySQL page; this page limits what they are allowed to allow.

Overview ​

URL: /admin/remote-mysql-settings

The page sits in the Database navigation group.

Remote MySQL settings with the wildcard policy toggle

Access policy ​

Allow access from any host (%) decides whether accounts may use the % wildcard, which opens the database port to the whole internet.

  • Off (default) - accounts may only allow specific addresses, ranges (/8, /16, /24), and patterns such as 203.0.113.%. An attempt to add % is refused with an explanation.
  • On - accounts may additionally allow %.

The policy applies to the whole server. Hosts allowed before you turn the policy off keep working until they are removed, so switching it off is not retroactive. Use the Remote MySQL Hosts page to find and revoke the wildcard entries that predate the change.

Warning: Leave this off unless you have a concrete reason. A % entry exposes a customer's databases to every address on the internet, and the password becomes the only thing protecting them.

Making the feature available ​

Whether an account sees the client page at all is decided per hosting plan, not here. Grant or withdraw the Remote MySQL feature on the Hosting Plans page. This settings page only governs what accounts that already have the feature may do.

What happens on the server ​

Allowing a host does two things: it creates the matching database permissions for that account's database users at that host, and it opens the database port to that source in the firewall. Removing the host reverses both. The port stays closed for every source nobody has allowed.