### 6.3.4 Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH

[]()[]()[]()

 This section describes how to get an encrypted connection to a remote MySQL server with SSH. The information was provided by David Carlson `<[dcarlson@mplcomm.com](mailto:dcarlson@mplcomm.com)>`.

1. Install an SSH client on your Windows machine. For a comparison of SSH clients, see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison\_of\_SSH\_clients](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_SSH_clients).

2. Start your Windows SSH client. Set `Host_Name = *`yourmysqlserver_URL_or_IP`*`. Set `userid=*`your_userid`*` to log in to your server. This `userid` value might not be the same as the user name of your MySQL account.

3. Set up port forwarding. Either do a remote forward (Set `local_port: 3306`, `remote_host: *`yourmysqlservername_or_ip`*`, `remote_port: 3306` ) or a local forward (Set `port: 3306`, `host: localhost`, `remote port: 3306`).

4. Save everything, otherwise you must redo it the next time.

5. Log in to your server with the SSH session you just created.

6. On your Windows machine, start some ODBC application (such as Access).

7. Create a new file in Windows and link to MySQL using the ODBC driver the same way you normally do, except type in `localhost` for the MySQL host server, not *`yourmysqlservername`*.

 At this point, you should have an ODBC connection to MySQL, encrypted using SSH.

