I need to be able to access my website files and database remotely since I will be away from my computer for a while. There are other times when I need make so changes quickly but have to drive to the office to get to it. I've solved the problem of getting to the files using getdropbox.com and a junction link to the website folder but I can't get to the database.

I've used the MySQL Administrator tool to setup a User and "Add a host from which the user can connect" butthe remote user still cannot access the database.

How do I give someone remote access to the MySQL database?

For any maintenance reasons, I would recommend using an RDP (Remote Desktop) connection. This way you can maintain your server as if you were working on it locally.

Any access to the MySQL server from the outside will mean a potential vulnerability.

RDP was my first choice but management won't allow it for security reasons.

I guess maybe I could try installing phpMyAdmin. Do you know of any issues with installing that into the PSW install?

While the Dropbox solution seems to work fine for us. Is there a way I can set up FTP access to the websit folder?

There are ofcourse possibilities to get FTP access to any location on a machine, by installing an FTP server software.

Also, you can connect to SQL remotely, by settings the MySQL server up to allow connections from other than the local host, and setting up the right ports to forward on the router (same for FTP).

However, these are system (network) administrator tasks. If you have no experience in setting up FTP or SQL like this, I would strongly discourage attempting it, as setting up this kind of access without sufficient knowledge about system security and vulnerabilities, the risks are probably even greater than with a correctly set up RDP.

Do you have a network administrator in your company? Or maybe an external ICT provider that can advise what would be best in your specific network situation?

Thanks for the help. I double checked the ports on my router and found the MySQL port disabled. MySQL Administrator is working nicely now. Oops.

As for the FTP I was hoping Apache had some means of allowing FTP access. We currently have the FTP directed to another computer and are reluctant to move it to the PSW computer. I guess we will just continue using Dropbox.

Managment's concern with the RDP is someone having external access to the entire network.

Thanks again for your time and help.