What type of connection do I have?
When you open Sequel Ace, the first screen that you will see is the database connection window. If you don’t have access to a MySQL server, perhaps you could try installing MySQL or MariaDB on your Mac.
Local Connections
A MySQL Server running on the same computer as Sequel Ace is called local. You can connect to a local MySQL server in two ways:
- using a Standard connection
- using a Socket connection
Which type you prefer is up to you. See below for a description of the two methods.
For more details, see Connecting to a local MySQL Server.
If you installed MySQL with MAMP or XAMPP, see Connecting to MAMP or XAMPP.
Remote Connections
If the MySQL server is on a different computer as Sequel Ace, it’s called a remote server. You can connect to remote servers:
- using a Standard connection
- using a SSH connection
You can use a standard connection if the MySQL server is directly reachable – e.g. if it is on your local network. If you cannot directly reach your server (e.g. it’s behind a firewall), you will have to use a SSH connection. For more details see Connecting to a MySQL Server on a Remote Host.
At the moment, Sequel Ace does not support SSL encryption. If possible, use a SSH connection instead.
Standard Connection
A standard connection is an unencrypted connection using TCP/IP. Such a connection is usually made over the network or over the internet to a remote server. To specify which server to connect to, you must provide its IP address or DNS resolvable name:
# IP Address 192.168.0.11 66.78.91.2
# DNS resolvable name Crema.X-Serve.local intranet.mycompany.com mysql.webhosting.com
If you use the special address 127.0.0.1, you can connect to a server on your own computer.
Note: Some web hosting companies may give you access to MySQL running on the server that is hosting your website (often by adding your IP address to a whitelist). In this case your web host will provide you with an IP address or a domain name on a server located on the internet that has a port open for you to connect to. If this is unavailable to you, you may need to connect to MySQL via an SSH Tunnel.
Required Fields
Host
Enter the hostname or IP address of the host.
Username
The default username for a MySQL install is root.
Optional Fields
Name
The name you want to give the favorite.
Password
The default password for a MySQL install is an empty string. If that’s the case, you should change the root password right away.
Database
If you enter a database, it will be selected when the connection to the server is established. Otherwise you can select one of the databases on the server afterwards.
Port
Defaults to port 3306.
Socket Connection
A Socket connection is a connection to a copy of MySQL running on your local machine. If you are connecting to MySQL that you have installed from a package installer or source, then you won’t normally need to enter anything into the socket field.
Required Fields
Username
The default username for a MySQL install is root.
Password
The default password for a MySQL install is an empty string. If that’s the case, you should change the root password right away.
Optional Fields
Name
The name you want to give the favorite.
Database
If you enter a database, it will be selected when the connection to the server is established. Otherwise you can select one of the databases on the server afterwards.
Socket
For non-standard MySQL installs (e.g - MAMP) manually set the path. Read more about connecting via sockets to MAMP, XAMPP and other MySQL server setups.