Not able to access mysql server using workbench on local network connection

Question

When I connect to the network using the local network connection I am unable to establish a connection to my server. It returns the following error:

Warning: mysqli::mysqli(): (HY000/2002): A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. in C:\xxxx\htdocs\xxxx.xxxx\class\class.mysql.php on line 11
Connect Error (2002) A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. 
Warning: mysqli::close(): Couldn't fetch mysql in C:\xxxx\htdocs\xxxx.xxxx\class\class.mysql.php on line 59

Now when I tether through my phone I have no problems connecting to the server.

My knowledge of networking is extremely ignorant so do forgive me if this is obvious, but what could some of the issues be stopping my connection to the server?

Answer 1

I have figured out the answer to the problem I was experiencing. I am documenting below, just in case it helps anyone else.

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I recently came across a problem when working through the 4th edition of Kevin Yank's "Build Your Own Data-Driven Website."

There appears to be an incompatibility between certain software packages and operating systems. In particular, this affects PHP 5.3 when trying to connect to MySQL while running on Windows Vista with Apache. It is not really a bug, but a discrepancy between how far along the different elements are in the transition from IPv4 to IPv6.

Basically, when PHP tries to connect to the database, it times out because it does not recognize localhost, only 127.0.0.1, and produces the following error message:

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Warning: mysqli_connect() [function.mysqli-connect]: [2002] A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not (trying to connect via tcp://localhost:3306) in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\phpmysql-4\chapter4\connect\index.php on line 2

Warning: mysqli_connect() [function.mysqli-connect]: (HY000/2002): A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond. in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\phpmysql-4\chapter4\connect\index.php on line 2

Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 30 seconds exceeded in C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs\phpmysql-4\chapter4\connect\index.php on line 2

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There are two possible solutions to this problem:

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1. Replace "localhost" with "127.0.0.1" in all PHP files that you wish to have connect to a MySQL database

2. Locate the "hosts" file on your computer. It is typically at a location such as this:

C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Open it up, and comment out the line that prevents the localhost from "mapping" correctly; in otherwords, change

::1 localhost

to

::1 localhost

This solution was, in fact, presented in the SitePoint forums previously, though without a full explanation of the details.

http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?t=637612

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The issue is described in detail on the PHP forum at the following link:

http://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=45150

Please note that -- from what I understand -- Windows XP does not have this problem, as it is configured only to IPv4. Vista runs into a problem because it is designed to handle both, as is Windows 7.

Also, I should mention that using PHP 5.2 with the aforementioned book is not recommended because there is a bug in that version -- a veritable one -- that causes Apache to crash when it attempts to open the "deletejoke" file.