Restrict access to MySQL DB through localhost, not through IP ?

Question

I'm using MySQL and a web-service connect to the database to read some values.
The web-service and the database are on the same server.
I want to deny access to the database through the public static IP of the server and the port of MySQL. That means only allow access to the database through localhost, so that only the web-service can connect to it, How to do so ? What configuration for example in MySQL should i do ?

Answer 1

It's not possible to restrict access to mySQL to specific applications as such.

You can, however, create a user account (e.g. named webservice) that is restricted to connect from 127.0.0.1 - that's the best you can do as far as I know, and should be totally sufficient.

Answer 2

There is no way to restrict access to only the web-service. You can restrict it to just applications running on the same host. To do this, create a new user with a host of either 127.0.0.1, or localhost should also work. You can either do this graphically or through the command line:

CREATE USER 'webservice'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'webservicepassword';
// Grant privileges here... 
// For example, GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'webservice'@'localhost' - but it's a far better idea to restrict access to only what it needs...