Troubleshooting common database errors

Objective

Your database usage may result in anomalies on your website or error messages in the OVHcloud Control Panel, as well as on the phpMyAdmin interface.

Find out how to troubleshoot database errors with OVHcloud Web Hosting plans.

Requirements

• An OVHcloud Web Hosting plan.
• An OVHcloud database service: Start SQL or Web Cloud Databases.

OVHcloud Control Panel Access

• Direct link: Hosting plans
• Navigation path: Web Cloud > Hosting plans > Select your web hosting plan

Instructions

"Error establishing a database connection"

Check ongoing incidents

First, check on the Web Cloud Status page whether your datacentre, your web hosting cluster, your Web Cloud Databases server, or your database is not affected by an incident on the OVHcloud infrastructure.

Click on the information you are looking for to view the content.

Verify login credentials for your database

Log in to the file storage space of your Web Hosting plan by FTP and find your website's configuration file (for example, a WordPress website will have a wp-config.php file located in the folder containing your website).

Then check the exact match between the login details for phpMyAdmin and the login details for your website's configuration file.

If necessary, change your database password.

Example for WordPress

If your website displays an "Error establishing a database connection" message and your hosting cluster is not affected by an incident, log in to the FTP storage space of your hosting and open the directory containing your website (by default, this is the www folder).

If this is a WordPress site, open the file wp-config.php.

define('DB_NAME', 'my_database');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'my_user');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'my_password');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'my_server.mysql.db:port');

Click on the tabs below to view each of the 2 steps in succession.

You have exceeded the authorised quota

You have received an email notification stating that the amount of data on your database exceeds the authorised limit. Your database has therefore been switched to read-only mode. This will prevent your website from being modified.

There are three ways you can unblock your database in this situation.

Method 1: Upgrade your subscription

If you have a Starter or Personal Web Hosting plan, we recommend that you switch to the high-performance offer. This subscription change will increase the size of your database which will automatically reopen it. This method is the simplest and does not require any particular technical expertise.

To upgrade your subscription, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

If you are already subscribing to a Performance offer, refer to method 2.

Method 2: Migrate your data to a larger database

You can also migrate your data to a new database:

• Order a larger database service if necessary, then create the new database;
• Duplicate the content of the old database to the new database or perform an export of your data, then import your data in the new database;
• Integrate the credentials of the new database into the configuration file of your site.

Method 3: Delete unnecessary data

Once you have made a database backup, log in to your phpMyAdmin interface to delete any unnecessary data using the Drop, Delete and Truncate commands.

To recalculate the quota, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

Method 4: Optimise your database

To optimise your database, follow the instructions in our guide "Configuring your database server".

To recalculate the quota, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

RAM overflows (Web Cloud Databases only)

The following message indicates that your Web Cloud Databases server has consumed too much resources on the OVHcloud infrastructure:

To increase the amount of RAM, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

You can also optimise your database by following the instructions of our guide "Configuring your database server".

Database import errors

"Access denied for user to database"

"#1044 - Access denied for user to database"

This error message means that the database you are trying to import contains elements that are not authorised on the OVHcloud shared infrastructure.

First make sure that your database is empty. To do this, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

If necessary, contact our user community or a specialised service provider for more information. We will not be able to assist you in correcting this issue.

You cannot have a "trigger" in your database's import script on OVHcloud shared hosting servers. In this situation, import your database to a Web Cloud Databases server.

The following query is also not allowed:

CREATE DATABASE IF NOT EXISTS `Database-Name` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;

Use this line instead:

USE `Database-Name`;

Replace Database-Name with the name of the database as displayed in your OVHcloud Control Panel.

"MySQL server has gone away"

"ERROR 2006 : MySQL server has gone away"

This error message appears when importing a database on a Web Cloud Databases server. In most cases, it is caused by the quantity of data to be imported being too large or by non-optimised SQL queries in the import script.

To resolve this issue, you can:

• Increase the amount of RAM. To do this, click on the tabs below to view each of the 3 steps in succession.

• Split your database in order to import it through multiple operations instead of one. (For any questions on the necessary steps, contact our community or OVHcloud partners. We will not be able to assist you with this.)

• Optimise your database, then repeat the export/import operations.

Unable to access phpMyAdmin

"Access denied for user"

"mysqli::real_connect(): (HY000/1045): Access denied for user"

This error message may appear when connecting to your database by phpMyAdmin. It indicates that the credentials entered are incorrect.

In this situation, check the credentials entered and change your database password if necessary.

"Too many connections"

"mysqli_real_connect(): (HY000/1040): Too many connections"

The maximum number of active connections for databases delivered with a shared hosting (Start SQL) is 30.

This number increases to 200 for the Web Cloud Databases service. (This setting can be modified in the Configuration section of your database service.)

A "Too many connections" error when connecting to phpMyAdmin appears if this maximum number of connections is exceeded.

In this situation, you will need to optimise your databases in order to reduce the number of active connections.

"Name or service not known"

"mysqli::real_connect(): (HY000/2002): php_network_getaddresses: getaddrinfo failed: Name or service not known"

This error message appears when connecting to phpMyAdmin if the server name entered is incorrect.

Check the server name for the relevant database service.

Click on the relevant situation to view the content.

Unable to connect to a Cloud Databases database

Having a Web Cloud Databases server allows you to connect to your databases from your computer or a server outside of the OVHcloud infrastructure.

If this connection is not possible, first check that you have authorised your public IP address to connect to the database server.

If this operation has been carried out, contact your ISP or the OVHcloud partners. We will not be able to assist you in this situation.

Go further

Getting started with Web Cloud Databases

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Join our community of users.