Limits of phpMyAdmin in hosted environments

Limits of phpMyAdmin in hosted environments

Many hosting companies provide phpMyAdmin as the default way of  administering MySQL databases, but you won’t be able to log in as the root super-user unless perhaps you’re the administrator of a dedicated server. So let’s consider the limitations you’re likely to encounter with phpMyAdmin.

In a hosted environment. What you see here is the version of phpMyAdmin running on my own remote webserver. I’m viewing it in a browser on my local computer, but for security reasons, most hosting companies don’t permit direct access to MySQL from a remote computer, so to display this page, I first had to log in to the control panel of my remote server. And then display phpMyAdmin from there.

In the database server panel, it shows my username, and then @localhost, so even though it’s on my remote server, it still gives the server name as localhost.

What that means is that MySQL and this version of phpMyAdmin are local to each other. So in other words, I’m viewing the contents of my database server just like an ordinary website. But phpMyAdmin gives me the option to edit certain parts of my databases.

I know there are several other databases running on the server, but this list on the left shows only my databases. Significantly, it doesn’t include MySQL, and the tabs at the top don’t include users.

Import Data Using PHPMyAdmin

Let’s take a look at the Import tab.

This is where you transfer data from another server. I’ll explain how to do that in a separate article. What’s important to check here, is the maximum permitted size.

In my case, it’s an incredibly generous 80 megabytes, but in most hosted environments, it’s usually 02 megabytes. And it might be even less. In the worst case scenario, file uploads might have been disabled altogether. The limit isn’t controlled by phpMyAdmin. But by the web server’s PHP configuration. Three settings are involved. File Uploads must be ON. Post Max Size controls the maximum amount of post data. And Upload Max File Size sets the upper limit on the individual file uploads. If file uploads are disabled, or you find the limit too small, you need to change the settings in the PHP configuration file, PHP.ini. And if you don’t have access to PHP.ini, ask your hosting company about increasing the upload limits.

Database Storage Engine Using PHPMyAdmin

Next, let’s take a look at the ” Engines “ tab.

Difference Between InnoDB And MyISAM

This lists the different storage engines supported by MySQL. The two most important are MyISAM, at the bottom here, and InnoDB, which is at the top.

If a description is grayed out, it indicates that particular engine isn’t supported on your server.

For many years, MyISAM was the default but it changed to InnoDB in MySQL 5.5. If both are enabled on your hosted server, you’re in luck because that’s the default engine in the new local installation of phpMyAdmin.

InnoDB also has the advantage of supporting foreign key constraints and transactions, two features that are missing from MyISAM. If the InnoDB description is grayed out, you’ll need to make sure you always select the MyISAM engine when working with a local version of phpMyAdmin.

In most respects, working with phpMyAdmin in a hosted environment is the same as in a local installation. The main differences are that you’re usually logged in with limited privileges. Although you could work with existing databases and user accounts. You usually can’t create new ones inside phpMyAdmin. You might also be limited in the size of files used to import data. And, you need to check whether the InnoDB storage engine is enabled on your remote server.