How to connect to a MySQL server on a Plesk for Linux server using a MySQL admin password in plain text

Question

• How to connect to a MySQL server on Linux using a MySQL admin password in plain text?

• How to get MySQL admin password in plain text?

Answer

For security reasons, MySQL admin password is encrypted and stored in the file /etc/psa/.psa.shadow on a Plesk for Linux server.

To connect to a MySQL server using the MySQL admin password in plain text, use the encrypted string from the file /etc/psa/.psa.shadow:

1. Connect to a Plesk server via SSH.

2. Print the content of /etc/psa/.psa.shadow:

   # cat /etc/psa/.psa.shadow
   $AES-128-CBC$ZmY/EEpy1+TwCNq5kalqSA==$Pd02kf4TTlpXdi/qyeo92w==

3. Use the string from the command above as an admin password when connecting using database management tools (MySQL Workbench, HeidiSQL, etc.).

   Note: When connecting to MySQL server using a plain admin password from a Linux shell, be sure to put single quotes on the sides of the password:

   # mysql -uadmin -p‘$AES-128-CBC$ZmY/EEpy1+TwCNq5kalqSA==$Pd02kf4TTlpXdi/qyeo92w==‘