[SOLVED] Cannot connect to mysql from a GUI client

Issue

I have a local database on my debian virtual machine. When I ssh into the machine from a Mac and try the following command

mysql -u root -p 

I successfully get connected. However if I try to connect from a GUI client on my Mac with the FQDN of the debian vm I get a ' Connection failed' response.

Also

SELECT host, user, password FROM user WHERE user = 'root';
+-----------+------+----------+
| host      | user | password |
+-----------+------+----------+
| localhost | root |          |
| (none)    | root |          |
| 127.0.0.1 | root |          |
| ::1       | root |          |
+-----------+------+----------+

What might be the issue?

Solution

You have root user with access only from localhost. When you are connecting from ssh - you are connecting locally from debian server. When you are connecting from Mac - this is different host. You need to create user with remote access. For example, to allow access from only your Mac

CREATE USER 'username'@'mac_ip_address'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

or to allow access from all hosts

CREATE USER 'username'@'%'
  IDENTIFIED BY 'password';

Answered By - Andrew