How PHP Connects to MySQL

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How PHP Connects to MySQL Securely (Step-by-Step)

Many dynamic websites use a database to store information such as users, posts, comments, products, settings or logs.

PHP can connect to MySQL or MariaDB and work with this data. In this guide we use PDO, because it supports prepared statements and is a good modern choice for secure PHP database access.

1. What You Need

• A web server such as Apache or Nginx
• PHP installed
• MySQL or MariaDB installed
• The PHP MySQL module
• A database name
• A database user with limited permissions

2. Install PHP MySQL Support

On Debian or Ubuntu:

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sudo apt update
sudo apt install php-mysql

Restart Apache:

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sudo systemctl restart apache2

If you use PHP-FPM:

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sudo systemctl restart php8.4-fpm

3. Create a Database and Limited User

Log in to MySQL or MariaDB:

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sudo mysql

Create the database:

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CREATE DATABASE testdb CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 COLLATE utf8mb4_unicode_ci;

Create a database user:

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CREATE USER 'testuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'CHANGE_THIS_TO_A_LONG_RANDOM_PASSWORD';

Give only the permissions needed for a normal application:

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