Locating PhpMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases


	Locating PhpMyAdmin to manage MySQL databases
	Last Edited - 09/23/2014 10:43am PDT
	Category Path - Shopping Cart Software Components > Administration Area > Hosting > FAQs & Tutorials

question

Is there a control panel available for viewing or directly editing my store's MySQL database?

A web-based database editor, called PhpMyAdmin, can be accessed from within your hosting account's Plesk control panel. Following are instructions on how to access PhpMyAdmin from within Plesk.

you are now leaving the support zone

Making edits directly to your store's database with PhpMyAdmin (or any other tool) is outside the scope of our technical support. So, be careful, because if you perform an action in PhpMyAdmin that breaks your store, we may not be able to help fix it!

altering database structure

The database that operates your Modular Merchant store is usually prefixed by either "mm2_" or "mm4_". (For example, if your account name is "mystore", then the database would be named "mm4_mystore".)

It is not recommended that tables in the store's database be added to, removed from or altered. Doing so could cause irreversible damage to the store.

If you must add tables to your store's database, it's highly recommended that you prefix the table names with an underscore. (For example: _mytable) This is because the shopping cart software adds tables to the store's database from time to time, and if a table with the same name already exists, there'll be trouble. However, since no tables created by the cart will start with an underscore, using one as a prefix to any tables you add to the store's database should prevent there being any "namespace" conflicts in future updates.

phpmyadmin is not for the squeamish

Be extremely careful when editing your store's database. Changes made to the store data are permanent. If data is altered or deleted, it is gone forever!

phpmyadmin is a security risk

Many versions of PhpMyAdmin (or other database management software) are riddled with security flaws, potentially allowing malicious users to gain access to (or even take over) your database and website.

For this reason, clients are allowed to be install their own copy of PhpMyAdmin (or any other database management software) on their website only if it is installed in a password protected directory. Unprotected PhpMyAdmin installations will be deleted off the server without advanced notice.

The Plesk access information is located within your store's Administration Area at: [Hosting > Connection Information].
On the Connection Information page, click the link for the Plesk control panel to open it in a new browser window.
Log in to the Plesk control panel using the username and password listed on the Connection Information page.
On the Plesk "welcome" page, click the Databases link.
On the page that lists the account's databases, click on the name of the database you'd like to work with.
Click the Webadmin link.
The phpMyAdmin interface will open in a popup window. Make sure your web browser is set to allow popups from this domain.
If the popup window requires a login, use the same user name and password you used to log in to Plesk.
The phpMyAdmin control panel will load in the popup window. It can be used to make modifications to your store's database.