I use PHP 5.4.3 and I want to connect to a MySQL database (DB for brevity) remotely (the PHP script resides on a different server than the DB) with normal object-oriented programming (OOP) way:
$mysqli = new mysqli(DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASS, DB_NAME);
and I get the error:
Warning: mysqli::mysqli(): The server requested authentication method unknown to the client [mysql_old_password]
Connect Error (2054) The server requested authentication method unknown to the client
I found this and this but they don't seem to help. I used PHP 5.2.9 and everything worked OK, but downgrading the PHP version is not a solution for me.
I also have to mention that I don't have full access to DB's settings cause the client doesn't give me that kind of access. I told him to ask Hostgator for a newer password format support, but they answered that they cannot do anything which was not what I was expecting. I did a new effort from another remote server and I get now this:
Connect Error (1045) Access denied for user 'user'@'host' (using password: YES)
by using PHP 5.3.9. It looks like the DB doesn't "let me in" because of the remote server's PHP script, but with Oracle's Workbench everything works fine.
Thanks for your time.
Best Answer
PHP must be expecting to use the old MySQL authentication plugin algorithms. You do not have to restart mysql. Since old_passwords is a globally dynamic option, all you have to do is run the following:
In addition, please add this to
/etc/my.cnf
:to have future restarts retain this setting.
To further verify the need to do this, the next time you login to mysql, run this
If none of the passwords are of length 16, this may explain PHP's reluctance to login.
Sad to say, but the alternative would be to setup 16-character passwords, but you cannot reverse-engineer 41-character passwords. You would have to manually setup the 16-character passwords using the original plain-text values.
For example, if root@localhost had 'helloworld' as the password, it would have convert it using the OLD_PASSWORD function. Here is a comparison:
Once you activate old_passwords, to convert it you would have to do something like this:
UPDATE 2013-02-02 22:44 EDT
If changing the authentication style on the MySQL side has not worked for you at this point, I have some bad news for you. You stated earlier:
You may need to downgrade PHP after all. If your hosting provider isn't in position or unwilling to adjust MySQL or give you a downgraded PHP, you will have to go with a hosting provider that will.
As an alternative you may want to look into Amazon EC2 when you can have full control of all software upgrades after running
sudo -s
. The links you mentioned before gave you what you needed to know. I gave you what you can do to accommodate the MySQL side. Do what you know has to be done to get this solved.