Allowing access to MySQL over the network

Programs that access MySQL databases, which are called clients, may be running on the same machine as the server. In this case, the client and server will communicate most efficiently using a Unix domain socket, which is a channel of inter-process communication accessed through the filesystem like a file or directory. Access to a socket is controlled by the filesystem's permissions.

Other client programs may be able to communicate only over TCP network sockets. These clients may connect to the local server using the loopback interface and IP address of 127.0.0.1. In this case, the MySQL server must be compiled with networking support and configured to listen for connections on the loopback interface.

However, if the client program is located on a machine other than the server, then communication between them must take place over the network using the TCP protocol. In order to make this communication possible, you will need to open an exception in your...