I have been using a Mandrake 10.1 box to learn how to use PHP and MySQL. So far its been more about learning how to use Linux, but that OK! The LAMP box (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) has been working well until I try to connect to a database from a remote client. When I do, I get the following message.

Warning: mysql_connect(): Lost connection to MySQL server during query in /var/www/html3/show_poll.php on line 10
Could not connect to db

This is the PHP code snippet that generates the message.

<?php
/*******************************************
Database query to get poll info
*******************************************/

// get vote from form
$vote=$_REQUEST['vote'];

// log in to database
if (!$db_conn = mysql_connect('192.168.1.11', 'poll', 'poll'))
{
echo 'Could not connect to db<br />';
exit;
};
?>

192.168.1.11 is the address of the remote client. Poll is used for both the user and password arguments, and user poll has been created in MySQL.I have also tried using the host name of the remote client in place of the IP address, which is k7n2xp. The server has an entry in the /etc/hosts file that describes the remote client.

/etc/hosts
192.168.1.11 k7n2xp

Strange error, especially since I can use an MySQL manager program like DBDesigner4 on the remote client to create databases and tables, and to perform query's and insert data. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Linux localhost 2.6.8.1-10mdk-i586-up-1GB #1 Wed Sep 8 16:56:13 CEST 2004 i586
Apache-AdvancedExtranetServer/2.0.50 (Mandrakelinux/5mdk) mod_ssl/2.0.50 OpenSSL/0.9.7d PHP/4.3.8

The problem is always simple, once you FIND it! I had two problems here, the first was the mysql_connect() function arquments I was using. The argument for host is the host of the MySQL database, not the remote host trying to connect. The second problem was the PHP code itself. I went to the ZEND website and looked up the mysql_connect() function and used the example code they had in place of the code I got from a instructional book (PHP and MySQL Web Development, 3rd Edition) and BINGO, it worked. Alot of troubleshooting. I thought I should answer my own post as I hate it when people post and then say, "nevermind, I found it". I don't care how stupid I look (comes natural for me), if it saves someone else from burning time, POST IT! Also, I don't know why this fixed it, the function call done in similar fashon. If any knows why, I would like to know.

<?php
/*******************************************
Database query to get poll info
*******************************************/

// get vote from form
$vote=$_REQUEST['vote'];

// log in to database
//if (!$db_conn = mysql_connect('192.168.1.15', 'poll', 'poll')) // old method
//{
// echo 'Could not connect to db<br />';
// exit;
//};


$db_conn = mysql_connect('192.168.1.15', 'poll', 'poll') // new method
or die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
//echo 'Connected successfully';

mysql_select_db('poll') or die('Could not select database');


//@mysql_select_db('poll');
* mysql_connect