Connect Retool to WP-Engine MYSQL

💬 Queries and Resources
1

  1. My goal: Connect Retool to WP-Engine MYSQL

  2. Issue: Connection Times Out

  3. Steps I've taken to troubleshoot: Spoken to support on WP-Engine

  4. Additional info: (Cloud or Self-hosted, Screenshots) Cloud

    Used this info to configure connection.
    2. Locate Your Database Credentials

    You will need four key pieces of information from your WP Engine dashboard:

    Field Description
    Host Usually [environment].managed-mysql.wpengine.com or a specific IP address provided in your portal.
    Database Name Found under the "Database" tab (often starts with wp_).
    Username Your database user (ensure they have "Remote" access permissions).
    Password The specific password for that database user.

    3. Configure the Connection in Retool

    Once the IPs are whitelisted and you have your credentials, head back to Retool.

    1. Create Resource: Select MySQL as the resource type.

    2. Display Name: Something descriptive like WP_Engine_Prod.

    3. Host/Port: Enter the host address. The default MySQL port is 3306.

    4. Database Name/User/Password: Enter the details gathered in Step 2.

    5. SSL: WP Engine usually requires encrypted connections. Toggle Enable SSL on. (In most cases, you don't need to upload a specific CA certificate, as Retool uses standard libraries).

3

Two thoughts on this:

  • Did you try to increase the timeout settings in querys or do you get the timeout when you create the ressource?
  • Maybe you need to add retools ip-addresses to your database. Its common practice to limit the access for certan ips
4

Thank you. The timeout is when I create the resource. I have confirmed with WP-Engine I do not need to allow the retool IP addresses and they are not blocked. I have successfully conected to the database using MYSQL workbench with the same settings the only difference is the SSH Username, which can’t be specified in Retool.

5

I am not a big expert on mysql via tunnel, but one thought is…Maybe you need to use the internal ip address of the database, when using an ssh tunnel

6

Hi, thankyou

I did try that too.

Thanks

7

Hi @businessequip,

My hunch is that you may need a CA cert.

Does WP engine require SSH or is that optional?

8

Hi it is optional

Jim

9

Hi @businessequip,

I have a few guesses on what the issue could be.

  1. IP range is not properly white listed
  2. WP Engine is blocking external DB connections
  3. You may be using the wrong host

To confirm Ip whitelisting can you:
In WP Engine-

  • Go to Database → Access → Remote IP Access
  • Make sure Retool’s outbound IPs are added

Retool publishes their IP ranges here:
https://docs.retool.com/docs/allow-retool-ip-addresses

If you only whitelisted your own IP, that does nothing for Retool Cloud.

WP Engine has a setting called:

“Allow Remote Database Access”

If that is not enabled at the environment level, it will silently timeout.

Third, to verify the host, WP Engine dashboards often show:

environment.managed-mysql.wpengine.com

But sometimes the correct host for external access is different.

Ask support WP Engine directly:

"Can you confirm this hostname allows external MySQL connections from third-party services?"

10

thank you so much , muy útil!