Mysql – Unable to create connection on MySQL Workbench Edition in Mac

I stumbled upon this question when I myself had encountered this error. I could finally figure out the configuration.

1. I didn't touch anything in /etc/mysql/my.cnf which already has bind_address = 127.0.0.1. So only localhost can connect.
2. I use OpenSSH server. So in its config file /etc/ssh/sshd_config I changed from no to yes the param responsible for TCP forwarding, thus AllowTcpForwarding yes.

3. Finally I have the following entered in MySQL WorkBench.

   • SSH Hostname: 192.168.0.8:22 (my SSH server listens to port 22)
   • SSH Username: sshuser
   • SSH Key File: *C:\Users\windowsuser\.ssh\id_rsa* (should be private key, even though it says public)
   • MySQL Hostname: 127.0.0.1 (this should not be changed, since MySQL server by default is bound to localhost only which I didn't change)
   • MySQL Server Port: 3306 (also default)
   • Username: root

The only remaining thing for you is to configure correctly your SSH server to work with keys rather than passwords. Hope this will help someone.

I hope your problem might have been already resolved.

However, I recently had a similar experience and I had to do following to resolve it.

1. Launch MySQL Workbench (Mine was 5.2.36 CE Revision 8542)
2. Double click on a server instance to manage the server instance
3. Goto Users and Privileges
4. Select root or other user you wish to check from the list in "Server Access Management" tab
5. Change the "Limit connectivity to hosts matching:" to IP that you are using to connect OR just change it to "%" to remove the IP restriction.<6> 6. In my case I had to change it to "%" to make it work.

Hope this will be helpful to someone, someday!
Cheers Manish.