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ddinchev
Asked: 2012-05-13 12:22:39 +0800 CST

Secure connection to MySQL with VPN?

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I have a VPS with MySQL 5.5, which is listening only on localhost because of obvious security reasons. I have set up VPN connection from my own machine to that VPS and I connect successfully.

What would be the best way to grant same access to all MySQL databases to anyone connected to the VPN as if it was a localhost request?

I might be asking this question in rather silly way, so if you don't get my idea, I will elaborate.

edit: The VPS is Linux (Cent OS 5.6), if that helps. MySQL is listening on 3306. I have currently forwarded all connections that come from my IP to port 3306 on the public address of the machine to 127.0.0.1:3306. But this is not very convenient, as I tend to travel and when I'm not at home, this method fails.

vpn mysql security

1 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    you can let mysql itself listen on connections coming on all interfaces [ comment out bind-address in my.cnf ] and control access using the iptables:

    #allow connections from the vpn. insert vpn address range below
IPTABLES -A INPUT -s 192.168.15.0/24 -p tcp --dport 3306 -j ACCEPT
#allow local connections eg your scripts running locally
IPTABLES -A INPUT -s 127.0.0.1 -p tcp --dport 3306 -j ACCEPT
#deny any other attempts of connecting to mysql
IPTABLES -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 3306 -j DROP

    you can be more elaborate and add -i to specify particular interface.

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