How to use the MySQL GUI client HeidiSQL with a remote DB server

Most IDEs nowadays work nicely with remote servers. But how about MySQL? phpMyAdmin is ok when you only have to use it once in a while, but a pain in the a… for everyday work.

So I wondered if my favorite MySQL Client HeidiSQL (which has a slightly stupid name, but this shouldn’t keep you off from trying it!) was able to help…

… and it was! You simply have to use the connection type “MySQL (SSH tunnel)” and set up the two tabs in the Connection Manager correctly:

1. Tab "Settings": - Hostname: 127.0.0.1 - User: [mysql-user] - Password: [mysql-pwd] - Port: 3306 (default)

2. Tab "SSH tunnel" - SSH Host: [server-name] - Port: 22 (default) - Username: [ssh-user] - Password: [ssh-pwd] - Local port: 3306

(thanks to Thomas Haller for the nice aggregation!)

It simply works like a charm (given a decent internet connection, of course) and gives you all the comfort a lazy Windows user wants (and needs :-).

Another tip from Thomas blog: if you experience problems with the connection, try to delete the path to the plink.exe. This will show the error messages which otherwise would be suppressed.