How do I access PHPmyadmin in WordPress as App Service (Linux) with Managed Identities turned on?

Saima Adeni 5

Hello Community,

We need to access PHPmyadmin to manage our MySQL Database used for WordPress. We are using Standard Hosting Plan of Azure with WordPress on App Service (Linux based) with Managed Identities activated. Now the issue is that we are not able to direct access PHPmyadmin via ourdomain.com/phpmyadmin.

The link shows username and password fields, we do know the username, however, due to Managed Identities the database password is not available anywhere. We have tried everywhere, there are no values in wp-config, no passwords in phpmyadmin > config.inc.php in File Manager and no passwords in Azure Database for MySQL flexible servers. We have searched literally all forums but found nothing. How do we simple non-tech people use phpmyadmin here with Managed Identities turned on? Can we have some sort of auto login to phpmyadmin like other normal cloud hostings?

James Bisiar 160 Reputation points

2024-09-10T20:53:12.84+00:00
In your setup, the key challenge is that with Managed Identities enabled on your WordPress App Service, the traditional approach of using a password to authenticate with the MySQL database is replaced by Azure's identity-based authentication. This means you won't have a static password available for direct login into phpMyAdmin.

Unfortunately, there's no automatic "single sign-on" (SSO) method directly integrated with phpMyAdmin using Managed Identities on Azure like in traditional hosting environments. However, here are some workarounds you can use:

Workaround Options:

1. Use the Azure MySQL Flexible Server’s Managed Identity for phpMyAdmin Access

Managed Identities are more typically designed for application-to-database authentication rather than tools like phpMyAdmin. But if you want to still use phpMyAdmin, you can:

Create a User with Password Authentication: Use the managed identity to connect to your MySQL database via Azure MySQL flexible server and create a new MySQL user that uses password-based authentication. This user can then be used to log into phpMyAdmin. Steps:

Connect to MySQL using Managed Identity: If the WordPress app has a managed identity enabled, it will already be using that identity to access the database without needing a password. You can use Azure CLI to connect to your database and manage users. In the Azure Cloud Shell (or your local terminal with the Azure CLI installed), run the following commands:
az mysql flexible-server connect --name <Your-MySQL-Server-Name> --resource-group <Your-Resource-Group> --user <ManagedIdentityUser>
This command should use the managed identity to authenticate to the MySQL database.

Create a New User with Password: Once connected, create a new MySQL user with a password:
CREATE USER 'phpmyadminuser'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'StrongPassword123!'; GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadminuser'@'%'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Now you can use the newly created user phpmyadminuser and the password StrongPassword123! to log into phpMyAdmin at yourdomain.com/phpmyadmin.

2. Configure Secure Access with MySQL Workbench or Azure Data Studio

Instead of relying on phpMyAdmin, you can use MySQL Workbench or Azure Data Studio for database management. These tools allow you to connect securely using Azure Active Directory authentication (if supported) or the managed identity.

You can use MySQL Workbench to connect to your database using a managed identity token for authentication. Azure Data Studio also supports MySQL databases and can help manage the database securely.

3. Temporarily Disable Managed Identity for Manual Login (Not Recommended)

If you temporarily need direct access to phpMyAdmin and want to avoid the managed identity complexities, you could:

Temporarily revert the authentication back to password-based by editing the WordPress wp-config.php to include the database username and password (from Azure MySQL settings). 2. Once you have logged into phpMyAdmin and made any changes, revert back to managed identity for security. This approach is generally not recommended because it introduces security risks and defeats the purpose of using managed identities.

4. Set Up SSH Tunneling for Secure Access

For additional security, you can use SSH tunneling to access phpMyAdmin securely without directly exposing it to the public internet. This approach would require setting up an SSH tunnel between your local machine and your Azure App Service, effectively securing the connection to phpMyAdmin.

Here’s how:

Set up an SSH tunnel from your local machine to the App Service that hosts your WordPress site. 2. Once the tunnel is established, access phpMyAdmin locally using the URL http://localhost:8888/phpmyadmin. This method would require some technical setup but helps secure access without exposing the phpMyAdmin interface publicly.

Conclusion:

For ease of access:

The best method for your use case is to create a separate MySQL user with password-based authentication for use with phpMyAdmin.

Alternatively, consider using tools like MySQL Workbench or Azure Data Studio for a more secure and direct connection method that works well with Azure services.

Let me know if you'd like more details.
Saima Adeni 5 Reputation points

2024-09-16T09:45:04.1466667+00:00

This did not resolve my issue. We have tried Azure CLI as well as Cloud Shell and tried running your SSH command. It gives the following error:

the following arguments are required: --admin-user/-u

When we add the MySQL Flexible Server Administrator Username command and the username it gives the following error:

unrecognized arguments: --resource-group <our resource group> --user <our managed id>

When we shift position of the admin and enter it like this:
az mysql flexible-server connect --admin-user <Admin-Username> --name <Your-MySQL-Server-Name> --resource-group <Your-Resource-Group> --user <ManagedIdentityUser>

We get the following error:
unrecognized arguments: --resource-group <our resource group>

Nothing we tried is working.
ajkuma 25,791 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-09-16T13:02:41.4866667+00:00

Saima Adeni, We noticed your recent experience on the Q&A community platform was rated low (Answer provided was not helpful).

Thank you for taking time to share your feedback.

Kindly let us know what we could have done better to make your experience a positive one.

We are here to help you and strive to make your experience better and greatly value your feedback.

Your feedback is very important to us.

(I have also followed-up with you privately)
ajkuma 25,791 Reputation points Microsoft Employee

2024-09-18T18:07:59.83+00:00
Saima Adeni, Apologies for a follow-up on this again.

Following-up from the private discussion.

I understand you have tried multiple things to resolve the issue.

We handled a similar discussion thread -user was able to fix the issue : *Since only Entra ID authentication was enabled, so unable to login with MySQL credentials. With MySQL authentication enabled, able to login into phpmyadmin. Referenced YouTube tutorial by Azure Database for MySQL.

If you haven't done, PhpMyAdmin is setup in the container at https://<your-app>/home/phpmyadmin/ path.https://github.com/Azure/wordpress-linux-appservice/blob/main/WordPress/wordpress_phpmyadmin.md

https://<appname>.azurewebsites.net/ and then browse to phpAdmin interface at: https://<appname>.scm.azurewebsites.net/phpMyAdmin/

https://<appname>.scm.azurewebsites.net/ (kudu) -Kudu by default uses single sign-on with your account that used for the subscription login.

Kindly let us know, we will be happy to follow-up with you further.

Share via

How do I access PHPmyadmin in WordPress as App Service (Linux) with Managed Identities turned on?

Workaround Options:

1. Use the Azure MySQL Flexible Server’s Managed Identity for phpMyAdmin Access

2. Configure Secure Access with MySQL Workbench or Azure Data Studio

4. Set Up SSH Tunneling for Secure Access

Conclusion:

Your answer

Share via

How do I access PHPmyadmin in WordPress as App Service (Linux) with Managed Identities turned on?

Workaround Options:

1. Use the Azure MySQL Flexible Server’s Managed Identity for phpMyAdmin Access

2. Configure Secure Access with MySQL Workbench or Azure Data Studio

3. Temporarily Disable Managed Identity for Manual Login (Not Recommended)

4. Set Up SSH Tunneling for Secure Access

Conclusion:

Your answer