Connecting to your database using SSH

For some enterprise setups, you’ll need to connect to your database using SSH.  SSH, “secure shell”, is a way for your laptop to communicate to a database on a remote server— think of it as a tunnel. Here’s how.

If you’ve used Sequel Pro, pgAdmin, or Postico, see the screenshots below. Otherwise, ask a teammate, check the company wiki, or talk to your tech / IT folks.

1. You’ll need your SSH info
   • SSH host: the address of the remote server
   • SSH username: your username to login to the remote server
   • SSH password or key: a password or key (a file)
2. You’ll need your database info:
   • Database host: the address of the database relative to the remote server
     • Often, the database is running on the SSH machine, so the database host is localhost
   • Database port: the port number the database is running on
   • Database name: the name of the database
   • Database username
   • Database password

SSH info from other tools

Mac Instructions

1. You’ll need to manually open the SSH tunnel.  Open Terminal.app:

1. Run a command to open a SSH connection to the remote server and begin forwarding requests from your localhost to the remote database
   • ssh ssh_username@ssh_hostname -L5434:database_hostname:database_port
   • You should be prompted for a password
2. In Wagon, connect via your localhost SSH tunnel:
   • Hostname: localhost
   • Port: 5434
   • Use your standard database credentials for name, username, and password.

If you’re in the mood to learn more about SSH, here’s a cute whiteboard video on how SSH works.