Error when Website is connecting to database.

Hi there,

The error “Database connection failed: Connection timed out (2002)” typically means that PHP is not able to establish a connection with your MySQL server. This could be due to several reasons. Here are a few things you can check:

1. Database Server is Not Running: Make sure that the MySQL service is up and running. You can check this by running the command systemctl status mysql or service mysql status (based on your system) on your server. If it’s not running, you can start it using systemctl start mysql or service mysql start.

2. Incorrect Connection Parameters: Make sure you’re using the correct hostname (typically “localhost” for a database on the same server), username, password, and database name in your PHP code. The database user should also have the necessary permissions on the database.

3. Firewall Blocking Connection: If your MySQL database is on a different server, it could be that a firewall is preventing your PHP application from establishing a connection. Check any firewall settings or security groups (if you’re using a cloud service like AWS).

4. Incorrect MySQL Configuration: The MySQL server might be listening on a different port, or not correctly configured to accept connections from your PHP application. Check the MySQL configuration file (typically located at /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf or /etc/my.cnf) and verify the bind-address and port directives.

5. Network Issues: There could be network issues between your PHP application and MySQL server. You can test the connection by trying to connect to the MySQL server from the command line of the server where your PHP application is hosted, using something like mysql -u username -p -h host.

6. Database Server Overloaded: If the server is under heavy load, the connection request may time out before it can be established. In this case, you might need to optimize your database or server setup to handle a higher load, or consider upgrading your server if the hardware is insufficient, here is an article that you could follow:

https://www.digitalocean.com/community/questions/how-to-tweak-mysql-mariadb-configuration-for-increased-performance-and-stability

Best,

Bobby