Welcome To Webune Web Hosting - We provide PHP and MySQL hosting. We also offer affordable Dedicated Servers.

Many of our Dedicated Server customer ask how they can check a db connection if it works.

Today we are going to show you how to write a simple script in PHP to test you database credentials. all you have to do is know your database credentials:

1- hostname (usually "localhost" or your server's IP Address)
2- username or login name
3- password
4- database name


if you dont know all these four values, check with your web hosting company, if you are a webune customer, contact us if you need help.

1. the first step is to open your favorite text editor. in my case, i am using a windows XP computer to write this script, so i am going to be using notepad.exe - if you rather not create the file yourself, you can download the full script provided in the attachment on this post. see below to download

2. create a test directory in your website. for example: http://www.example.com/test

3. open a blank notepad, copy and paste the following php code: PHP CODE: [testmysql.php]
<?php
###################################### C O P Y R I G H T S ####################################
# THIS SCRIPT IS DISTRIBUTED BY WEBUNE.COM UNDER LICENSE UNDER THE GPL RULES
# PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE THIS MESSAGE IN SUPPORT OF OUR HARD WORK TO CONTINUE TO PROVIDE FREE SUPPORT
###############################################################################################
# OK, HERE WE GO
# Use this variable if you are using an installation script
$step = $_GET['step'];
if (!$step) {
	$page_title = 'Form';
}
else{
	$page_title = 'Test MySQL step '.$step;
}
############## BEGIN FUNCTIONS ##############################
# FUNCTION TO TEST USERNAME AND PASSWORD IN MYSQL HOST
function db_connect($server, $username, $password, $link = 'db_link') {
	global $$link, $db_error;
	$db_error = false;
	if (!$server) {
		$db_error = 'No Server selected.';
		return false;
	}
	$$link = @mysql_connect($server, $username, $password) or $db_error = mysql_error();
	return $$link;
}
# FUNCTION TO SELECT DATABASE ACCESS
function db_select_db($database) {
	echo mysql_error();
	return mysql_select_db($database);
}
# FUNCTION TO TEST DATABASE ACCESS
function db_test_create_db_permission($database) {
	global $db_error;
	$db_created = false;
	$db_error = false;
	if (!$database) {
		$db_error = 'No Database selected.';
		return false;
	}
	if ($db_error) {
		return false;
	} else {
		if (!@db_select_db($database)) {
			$db_error = mysql_error();
			return false;
		}else {
			return true;
		}
	return true;
	}
}

function step1 ($error) {
	echo '<h1 style="color:#FF0000">'.$error.'</h1><hr>';
?>
<form name="form1" method="post" action="<?php $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']; ?>?step=2">
<table border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<td><div align="right">mysql hostname:</div></td>
<td><input name="server" type="text" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['server']; ?>"> 
(usually &quot;localhost&quot; or enter IP Address of MySQL Server)</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div align="right">mysql username:</div></td>
<td><input type="text" name="username" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['username']; ?>"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div align="right">mysql username password:</div></td>
<td><input type="text" name="password" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['password']; ?>"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><div align="right">mysql database name:</div></td>
<td><input type="text" name="database" value="<?php echo $_REQUEST['database']; ?>"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2"><input type="submit" name="Submit" value="Submit"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</form>
<?php
}
?>
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
<title>Webune MYSQL TEST - <?php echo $page_title; ?></title>
</head>
<body>
<h1><?php echo $page_title; ?></h1>
<?php
############## END FUNCTIONS ##############################
switch ($step) {
	case '2':
		if ($_REQUEST['server']) {
				$db = array();
				$db['DB_SERVER'] = trim(stripslashes($_REQUEST['server']));
				$db['DB_SERVER_USERNAME'] = trim(stripslashes($_REQUEST['username']));
				$db['DB_SERVER_PASSWORD'] = trim(stripslashes($_REQUEST['password']));
				$db['DB_DATABASE'] = trim(stripslashes($_REQUEST['database']));
				$db_error = false;
				db_connect($db['DB_SERVER'], $db['DB_SERVER_USERNAME'], $db['DB_SERVER_PASSWORD']);
				if ($db_error == false) {
					if (!db_test_create_db_permission($db['DB_DATABASE'])) {
						$error = $db_error;
					}
				} else {
					$error = $db_error;
				}
				if ($db_error != false) {
					$error = "failed";
					echo step1($db_error);
				} else {
					echo '<h1 style="color:green">Congratulations!</h1>
					Connected Successfuly to datbase <strong>
					<a href="http://www.webune.com/forums/how-to-test-mysql-database-connection.html">Continue &gt;&gt; </a></strong>';
				}
		} else {
			$error = "ERROR: please provide a hostanme";
			echo step1($error);
		}
	break;

	default:
	echo step1('Step 1');
	break;
}
?>
<div align="center">
<img src="http://www.webune.com/images/headers/default_logo.jpg">
</div>
<div align="center">
Script Courtesy of 
<a href="http://www.webune.com">Webune PHP/Mysql Hosting</a></div>
</body>
</html>


4. now save the file as "testmysql.php" [NOTE: include the quotes, otherwise, notepad could save the file as testmysql.php.txt and we dont need the .txt part

5. upload it to your website and now you can test your connection
Example: http://www.example.com/test/testmysql.php

PLease provide us with any feedback or comments
testmysql.zip