How to setup Mysql Database Connection on Flask Wsgi Production Server

Hi there,

The error message you are seeing: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named ‘MySQLdb’ indicates that the required MySQL driver for Python is not installed in your environment. You need to install the MySQLdb package (also known as mysqlclient) to interact with a MySQL database using SQLAlchemy.

Here are the steps to set up the MySQL connection in a Flask app running on a WSGI production server:

1. Install MySQL Driver:

   • Run the following command to install the mysqlclient package:

     pip install mysqlclient
     

2. Configure Your Flask Application:

   • In your Flask application, you need to set up the database URI to point to your MySQL database:

     from flask import Flask
     from flask_sqlalchemy import SQLAlchemy
     
     app = Flask(__name__)
     app.config['SQLALCHEMY_DATABASE_URI'] = 'mysql://username:password@localhost/dbname'
     db = SQLAlchemy(app)
     

     Make sure to replace username, password, localhost, and dbname with your actual database credentials and host information.

3. Configure WSGI:

   • If you are using a WSGI server like mod_wsgi or gunicorn, make sure that it is properly configured to serve your Flask application. You may need to refer to specific documentation depending on the WSGI server you are using.

4. Restart Your WSGI Server:

   • After installing the required package and configuring your application, restart the WSGI server to apply the changes.

5. Check Application Logs:

   • If you still encounter issues, check the application logs for detailed error messages that can help you identify the root cause of any problems.

Best,

Bobby