Connecting to Amazon RDS using MySQL Workbench

Question

I just heard about amazon rds and MySQL Workbench today from my partner for my group project, so I'm not very familiar with them. My partner has created a host account on amazon rds for our database, and I am suppose to help create table and make sql queries. However, I'm having no luck connecting to the database through MySQL workbench. The error message I received is "Unknown MySQL server host '*host_address*'. I have tried adding port 3306 to my firewall as suggested by a blogger, but that still doesn't work. There are some answers that say in order to connect to amazon rds, the user would need to add his/her IP address to the "DB Security Group" in amazon rds. So, does that mean my partner would need to add MY IP address to "DB Security Group" in the amazon rds account that my partner had created for the database? I been working on getting the connection for the last 6 hours, so I'm very greatful if someone could answer my question or point me in the right direction. Thank you for all your help.

Answer 1

The RDS Security Group for your RDS instance needs to be configured to allow access from your IP address. Once it is done, then you can verify that you have GOOD connectivity by running telnet <you_RDS_Instance_Name> 3306. Once you are able to connect fine, then I should be able to connect using MySQLWorkbecnh.

I have personally never used MySQL Workbench but I connect using MySQL cli to my RDS instance.

Here is the sample telnet command:

# telnet myrds.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com 3306
Trying 10.249.88.207...
Connected to myrds.us-west-2.rds.amazonaws.com.
Escape character is '^]'.
N
5.6.13-log▒)BM@5)n▒\eeM/B?Vr[P_mysql_native_password^]
telnet> q
Connection closed.

Read More about RDS Security Groups here.

Answer 2

This blog posting (http://thoughtsandideas.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/monitoring-and-managing-amazon-rds-databases-using-mysql-workbench/) describes how to use MySQL Workbench with Amazon RDS. It's for an older version of MySQL Workbench but still valid.