Question

First, here’s the setup:
AWS EC2 instance is up and running. Port 22,80, and 3306 have been added to the Security Groups

RDS DB Instance is up and running. My local IP was added as a CIDR/IP connection. AWS Account ID was added as a EC2 Security Group connection.

It’s a little odd to me that the regions are different. RDS is US East(N. Virginia), EC2 is US West (Oregon).

My local database was successfully imported to RDS. I used the command line like this:

C:\xampp\mysql\bin>mysqldump -u root 'local database' | mysql -- host='Endpoint' --  user='user login' --password='user pwd' ' rds database'

I am also using MySQL Workbench to connect and query the database on rds.
I never did import my backup sql file (‘localhostdatabase.sql’) to rds.

Here is how I am connecting:
(Both options are not working.)

// $serverConnect = mysql_connect('rds endpoint','rds admin','rds pwd');
// $serverConnect = mysql_connect('EC2 elastic ip','rds admin', 'rds pwd');

You can see the error when you click the ‘Demo’ button at http://www.realcardio.com

Do I need to configure a php file? If so, how do I do this?
My web files are stored at /var/www/html. But I don’t know where the php config files are located.

I use WinSCP to connect to EC2. How do I connect to RDS if I need to modify the files here?

I’ll troubleshoot and share anything with you. Just want to get this up and running.
I appreciate any help!

DK

Answer 1

Ok, there’s a number of issues here so I’ll try to get through all of them:

1. Unless you like slow performance, your RDS instance and EC2 instance should be in the same region. Easy to change, but do it before you launch.
2. You don’t need to configure anything in your PHP file other than the credentials for the database and the RDS instance address. You should be using the first option you listed.
3. The reason you aren’t able to establish a connection is likely because of your security groups. Double and triple-check that your EC2 Security Group is added as “allowed” to your RDS security group. Remember, each security group is different. If, after verifying those settings, it still doesn’t work, then directly add the EC2 instance’s IP address to the RDS security group.
4. Issues you didn’t ask about: turn off display_errors on your site. It exposes information that you don’t want exposed to your users. Also, don’t use the “mysql_*” functions. They have begun the deprecation process, have more holes than you have pores and also miss out on lots of newer MySQL features. Use PDO or MySQLi instead.