Moodle database connection error

Question

I am trying to setup moodle and running into a connection problem. See the config below:

<?php  // Moodle configuration file

unset($CFG);
global $CFG;
$CFG = new stdClass();

$CFG->dbtype    = 'mysqli';
$CFG->dblibrary = 'native';
$CFG->dbhost    = 'localhost';
$CFG->dbname    = 'gs_vle';
$CFG->dbuser    = 'root';
$CFG->dbpass    = 'root';
$CFG->prefix    = 'mdl_';
$CFG->dboptions = array (
 'dbpersist' => 0,
 'dbport' => '',
 'dbsocket' => '',
);

$CFG->wwwroot   = 'http://localhost/~ryanme/work/vle/';
$CFG->dataroot  = '/Users/ryanme/sites/work/moodledata';
$CFG->admin     = 'admin';

$CFG->directorypermissions = 0777;

require_once(dirname(__FILE__) . '/lib/setup.php');

I am getting a database connection error. See the error below:

Error: Database connection failed

It is possible that the database is overloaded or otherwise not running properly.

The site administrator should also check that the database details have been correctly specified in config.php

Warning: mysqli::mysqli(): (HY000/2002): No such file or directory in /Users/ryanme/Sites/work/vle/lib/dml/mysqli_native_moodle_database.php on line 79

Things I have done

• Logged in with the root user via terminal and checked I can see the database with show databases;. This works fine.
• Checked the settings are correct over and over.
• Compared the config file to teams setup and it's pretty much the same.
• Ensured the mysqli module is enabled for PHP. It is.

What can I do to figure out what is causing this database connection error?

Answer 1

After more investigation. I found that this was due to "mysql on OS X gets the locations of the required sock file a bit wrong". Once I created the sym links required for the mysql sock file everything worked.

See linked issue for details.

Answer 2

I had had the same problem. To solve this issue I put the name of the server instead localhost

$CFG->dbhost = '<name-of-the-server>';

Answer 3

I got this error after an app installation changed the database password of Moodle. To fix this, I updated the password in Moodle's config.php and, sure enough, my problem was resolved.

Perhaps Moodle should have some original database errors, like "database connection failed"? That could save a lot of time, instead of that generic error. Just a suggestion.