Changing the password for a Web Hosting plan’s database

Last updated 15rd February 2023

Objective

Most websites use a database to store their articles, comments, or users' email addresses.

You can connect to this database using a configuration file contained in the file storage space on your Web Hosting plan. It contains credentials that allows your website to access its database server.

The password change for a database must therefore always be carried out in two places:

• In your website’s configuration file via the FTP space on your Web Hosting plan.

• And on the server that contains their database, via the OVHcloud Control Panel.

Until this change is made in both locations, your site will display a "database connection error".

For this reason, if you would like to change your database password, you will need to carry out all of the operations listed in this guide. If you have any doubts about how to proceed, contact your webmaster or contact a specialised service provider.

There are four steps to changing your website’s database password:

• Step 1: identify your website configuration file
• Step 2: identify your website database
• Step 3: change the password for your website database in its configuration file
• Step 4: change the password for your website database on the database server

This guide explains how to change a database password securely.

Requirements

• An OVHcloud Web Hosting plan
• Access to the OVHcloud Control Panel
• A database associated with your hosting or a Web Cloud Databases
• FTP login details to log in to your hosting’s storage space

Instructions

Step 1: Identify your website’s configuration file

In the OVHcloud Control Panel, click on Web Cloud, then on Hosting plans and finally the hosting plan concerned. Then go to the Multisite tab. Identify the name of your site's Root folder (the directory in which its files and folders are located).

Then click on the FTP-SSH tab and go to the space containing your website’s files and folders (the FTP space) by clicking FTP Explorer.

Open the Root folder identified previously.

Locate and open your site's configuration file:

• For a WORDPRESS site, open "wp-config.php".
• For a JOOMLA site, open "configuration.php".
• For a DRUPAL site, click on the "sites" folder, then "default". The configuration file is "settings.php".
• For a PRESTASHOP website, click on the "app" folder, then "config". The configuration file is "parameters.php".

Step 2: Identify your website’s database

There are two possible cases:

• Case 1: Your website database is part of your hosting plan.
• Case 2: It is included in a Web Cloud Databases offer, in which case you will need to find the server name and the username of your database, in order to identify the database without any risk of error.

To determine which case applies to your website, in the configuration file identified in step 1, start by noting down the name of its database:

• For WORDPRESS: The name appears under "DB_NAME".
• For JOOMLA: The name appears under "public $db".
• For DRUPAL: The name appears under "database".
• For PRESTASHOP: The name appears under "database_name".

Then go back to the OVHcloud Control Panel and open the Web Cloud section:

• Go to the Hosting plans section, then to the Web Hosting plan concerned.
• Click on Databases tab on the right-hand side of your screen.
• Locate the database name previously found in the Database Name column.

If you have found the database name listed in the configuration file in this section of the OVHcloud Control Panel, go to step 3.

Otherwise, your website’s database is linked to a Web Cloud Databases solution.

You will need to go back to your website’s configuration file to note the server name and database username:

• For WORDPRESS: The server name appears under DB_HOST and the username under DB_USER.
• For JOOMLA: The server name appears under "public $host" and the username appears under "public $user".
• For DRUPAL: The server name appears under "host" and the username appears under "username".
• For PRESTASHOP: The server name appears under "database_host" and the username appears under "database_user".

Then click in the Databases section of the Web Cloud section.

For Web Cloud Databases solutions, open the tab General information. Check for the database server name identified previously under Host name.

In this section of the OVHcloud Control Panel, go to the Users and rights tab to find your database’s Username.

Step 3: Change the password for your website’s database in its configuration file

Choose the new password for your database and save it. It must meet the following conditions:

• Minimum 8 characters
• Maximum 30 characters
• At least one capital letter
• At least one lower-case letter
• At least one number
• Only numbers and letters

As described in step 1, go back to your Web Hosting plan’s file storage space, then open your website’s configuration file for editing.

Before you make any changes, save the content of this file locally in a text document, so that you keep a copy if you make any mistakes.

Manually replace your database password while avoiding changing or deleting any other elements of the configuration file (in the extracts below, only the sample password *0VhCloudPa55w0rdDB123* should be replaced):

• In the configuration file of a WORDPRESS website, modify "DB_PASSWORD":

// ** MySQL settings - You can get this info from your web host ** //
/** The name of the database for WordPress */
define('DB_NAME', 'dbname123');

/** MySQL database username */
define('DB_USER', 'dbname123');

/** MySQL database password */
define('DB_PASSWORD', '0VhCloudPa55w0rdDB123');

/** MySQL hostname */
define('DB_HOST', 'dbname123.mysql.db:3306');

• In the configuration file of a JOOMLA website, modify "public $password" (at the end of the configuration file):

public $host = 'dbname123.mysql.db:3306';
public $user = 'dbname123';
public $password = '0VhCloudPa55w0rdDB123';
public $db = 'dbname123';

• In the configuration file of a DRUPAL website, modify "password":

$databases['default']['default'] = array (
  'database' => 'dbname123',
  'username' => 'dbname123',
  'password' => '0VhCloudPa55w0rdDB123',
  'prefix' => 'prefix123_',
  'host' => 'dbname123.mysql.db',
  'port' => '3306',

• In the configuration file of a PRESTASHOP website, modify "database_password":

'database_host' => 'dbname123.mysql.db',
'database_port' => '3306',
'database_name' => 'dbname123',
'database_user' => 'dbname123',
'database_password' => '0VhCloudPa55w0rdDB123',

Save this change.

Step 4: Change the password for your website’s database on the database server

Again, two cases are possible:

• If your database is located in the section of the OVHcloud Control Panel that is dedicated to your Web Hosting plan, follow these instructions.

• If your database is located in the section of the OVHcloud Control Panel dedicated to your Web Cloud Databases solutions, follow these instructions.

Case 1: Your website’s database is part of your hosting plan

In the Hosting Plans section of the OVHcloud Control Panel, go to the Databases tab on the right-hand side of your screen:

Next, click on the three dots to the right of your website’s database, then on Change password.

In the window that pops up, enter your database’s new password (defined at step 3), confirm it, then click on Confirm.

Case 2: Your website’s database is part of a Web Cloud Databases solution

Go to the Databases section in your Control Panel and click on the server concerned, then click on Users and rights:

To change the password for your database on the server, click on the three dots to the right of the Username identified in step 2, then on Change password.

In the window that pops up, enter your database’s new password (defined in step 3), confirm it, then click on Confirm.

Go further

FileZilla software usage with your hosting

Change your account password

Troubleshoot common database errors

For specialised services (SEO, development, etc.), contact your OVHcloud partners.

Join our community of users on https://community.ovh.com/en/.

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