Confusing PDO-only problem : Can't connect through socket/Access denied/Can't connect to server (shared host)

Question

Hi, folks !

So the problem changed from what it was, i'll leave the original question below to prevent bad reviews on answers like I had after someone editing his question I answered :

So I am working on a (really lame) shared hosting which has PDO installed, but it doesn't work. With default parameters

<?php
try {
    $dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=THE_DB_NAME', 'THE_USER', 'THE_PASSWORD');
    echo 'Connected to database';
    }
catch(PDOException $e)
    {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    }
?>

it throws this message :

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

With a simple mysql_connect, it works.

And the socket path seems correct (both phpinfo and this query :

show variables like 'socket';

confirm.

Localhost redirects to 10.103.0.14 (this data comes from mysql_get_host_info() and in phpMyAdmin)

In the PDO, if i replace localhost by 127.0.0.1 i will get

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2003] Can't connect to MySQL server on '127.0.0.1' (111) 

And if i replace localhost by 10.103.0.14 :

Access denied for user 'USER_NAME'@'10.103.0.14' (using password: YES

Both IP adress (127.0.0.1 and 10.103.0.14) work with mysql_connect.

So apparently the problem comes from the PDO connection.

Does somebody knows where this could come from, or/and any way to fix it ?

Some server datas :

The PHP Version : 5.2.10 You can see the server's phpinfo : http://web.lerelaisinternet.com/abcd.php?v=5 No command line possible. (i know it should be the tech suport's job, but they're reaaaaaly slow)

Thanks

Previous question :

How to find the mysql.sock on a shared host (tricky way needed...)

So today's problem is : The PDO connection doesn't work on a shared host, and it's supposed to (it's installed on the server). Just a basic PDO connection :

<?php
try {
    $dbh = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=THE_DB_NAME', 'THE_USER', 'THE_PASSWORD');
    echo 'Connected to database';
    }
catch(PDOException $e)
    {
    echo $e->getMessage();
    }
?>

throws this message :

SQLSTATE[HY000] [2002] Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

A regular mysql connection :

mysql_connect("localhost", "THE_USER", "THE_PWD") or die(mysql_error()); 
mysql_select_db("24DLJLRR1") or die(mysql_error());;
echo 'Connected to database <br/>';

works fine.

So apparently it cannot find the .sock. I think specifying the correct address should work, i tried some "classic" mysql path that I found on internet, without success. The phpinfo says it is at this adress (/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock) (The PHP Version is 5.2.10) You can see the server's phpinfo : http://web.lerelaisinternet.com/abcd.php?v=5

So i am trying to figure out where the hell it is !!! I tried to look in the phpMyAdmin interface, but i couldn't find the info, plus it seems that phpMyAdmin connects to a different server (it has a different IP adress, and trying to connect to it with php gives a "Wrong password" error). The mysql_connect also connects to this adress, i think it redirects to a different server with some internal password/login.

Well if you have any idea of how to obtain this info (the provider's technical support is "fixing the problem"... it's been 1 month...). Also maybe the problem comes from somewhere else, but the same stuff works on other shared hosts...

The need of PDO is because I use the Symfony framework with Doctrine for this website, and the Doctrine plugin needs PDO... I don't want to redo the website from scratch !

Thanks for your help !

Answer 1

Can you try 127.0.0.1 as the server name instead of localhost?

IIRC, with some mySQL drivers / adapters, this decides whether the socket is used for establishing the connection or not.

Answer 2

Using the connection which works, run the query:

show variables like 'socket';

(this behaves just like a select statement)...and you'll get the path of the running socket.

Then check the file permissions.

Answer 3

try:

exec('`which mysql_config` --socket');

this should show you the configured socket.

Answer 4

I have tried a couple of toturials about PDO and it did not work, all this time I thought I was doing something wrong, I had not idea that this could be problem with connection, I am having second thought about PHP. I might switch to ASP.NET