MariaDB: Access from 0.0.0.0

I recently installed MariaDB, a MySQL fork, on a Linux VM in the cloud for testing and development purposes. I really struggled with getting proper access from my dev machine to the installation in the cloud.

Simply put, I just wanted a totally open SQL database for deving and testing, nothing production wise was needed.

MariaDB is by standard pretty secure: a good thing, and does not allow remote access: also a good thing.

Firstly, one has to edit the proper .cnf file under /etc/mysql/* and set the bind-address from 127.0.0.1 to 0.0.0.0. MariaDB by default listens only on the loopback interface, thus making it impossible to reach it from outside either LAN or WAN.

Next up, one needs to restart the service: service mysql restart which will apply the changed bind-address.

Now it is possible to connect from outside, TCP/IP wise, however, the MariaDB user (such as root) needs to be granted access from outside to be able to actually make a logical connection to the DBMS.

This can be done by issuing the following SQL query (in this case, for root with password xyzw):

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'xyzw' WITH GRANT OPTION;

Which will grant root access level from anywhere.

To fire off this SQL, I suggest to simply login to the box using SSH and connect to the mysql CLI using:

sudo mysql -u root

and then fire off the query.