How to create a database and connect your application

Applications such as WordPress store posts, settings, and account records in a database. Website files and the database form a pair: uploading the files alone will not recreate a working database-driven site.

Create a database in the Control Center #

1. Open My Account → Hosting services → Manage website for the correct domain, then select Databases.
2. Review the inventory. It shows the reported name, engine, size, host, and associated application. Not reported means the value is unavailable, not that it is empty.
3. Expand Create a database if your plan and owner permissions allow it. The creation allowance is shared across the websites in this hosting service.
4. Enter a Database label of 1-24 lowercase letters, numbers, or underscores, beginning with a letter. Choose Create MySQL database. This creates a MySQL/MariaDB database according to the hosting environment.
5. Wait for confirmation and copy the final name from the inventory. The service adds a prefix, and Virtualmin may add its template prefix too. Use the complete resulting name in your application.

Use a separate database for each application when your allowance permits it. For other database engines or unavailable controls, ask support. Virtualmin also provides Edit Databases → Create a new database when your account permits it. Virtualmin database creation guide

Set application access #

Database-user access, passwords, imports, and deletion remain in Virtualmin. Obtain the hostname and application credentials there or from support; the Control Center's creation form does not create a separate password for you. Do not assume the credentials match your customer account.

Grant access to the application's database rather than unrelated databases. Review existing applications before changing a shared database password, since each application using that login must receive the new value. Virtualmin supports database access assignments for individual users, but your panel permissions determine whether you can manage them. Virtualmin user access options

Enter the connection values into your application's installer or private configuration file. Avoid screenshots that reveal passwords, and keep backup configuration files outside the document root.

Verify the connection #

Complete the installer or load a page that reads stored content. Create a small test record through the application, confirm it persists after reloading, then remove it.

Troubleshooting #

If creation cannot be confirmed, refresh the inventory before retrying. Do not submit a different label to work around an uncertain result. For access denied, check the full username, password, database name, and permitted connection host. For a timeout, verify the hostname with support. Do not enable public database access to fix an ordinary local connection.

Related: export and import databases, install WordPress.