FAQ & Troubleshooting

Last change on 2026-05-26 • Created on 2026-05-26 • ID: MA-397C4

Connection problems

"Access denied for user ..." / "password authentication failed"

The database is rejecting your login. Check the following in this order:

  1. Is the username correct? The database username is not the same as your konsoleH login. You can find it in the database overview under MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL.
  2. Is the password correct? For MariaDB/MySQL there are three passwords (main password, R/W, R/O). Make sure you are using the right one for your purpose.
  3. Did you recently change the password? If so, you have to update it everywhere it is configured (e.g. in wp-config.php).
  4. Special characters in the password? In some configuration files, special characters like $ or \ need to be escaped. When in doubt, set a new password without special characters.

"Can't connect to MySQL server" / "could not connect to server"

The database cannot be reached. The most common causes:

  1. You entered localhost as the hostname. That is wrong for konsoleH. The database runs on a separate server. You will find the correct hostname in the database overview in konsoleH.
  2. Typo in the hostname. Copy the hostname directly from konsoleH instead of typing it manually.
  3. Wrong port. MariaDB/MySQL typically uses port 3306, PostgreSQL uses port 5432. You will find the exact port in the confirmation email.
  4. The database was deleted or renamed. Check in konsoleH whether the database still exists.

Connection from an external system (your own computer) fails

If you want to access the database from your local machine (for example with HeidiSQL, DBeaver, or pgAdmin), the hostname and password alone are often not enough. For security reasons, the database is not freely accessible from the internet. In that case, you have to establish an encrypted connection over SSL. See the SSL access section on the sub-pages for MariaDB/MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Character set and language issues

Umlauts appear as ??? or ä, ö, ü

This is a classic character set problem. It happens when your application and the database use different character sets. To fix it:

  1. Check the database: It should use the character set utf8mb4 (MariaDB/MySQL) or UTF8 (PostgreSQL). You can verify this in phpMyAdmin/phpPgAdmin under the "Operations" tab or under "Schema".
  2. Check your application: Make sure your application also uses UTF-8 when connecting. In WordPress, this is set in wp-config.php under DB_CHARSET.
  3. For imports from older backups: If the backup was created with an older character set (e.g. latin1), the data has to be converted during import. You can do this on the command line with iconv, for example.

Size and limit issues

"Database is full" / storage limit reached

Every database has a maximum size according to your konsoleH plan. Once the limit is reached, further write operations will fail. What to do:

  1. Check the current size: In konsoleH under MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL, you can see how much space each database is using.
  2. Identify common storage hogs:
    • Log tables from plugins (e.g. WordPress plugins that record every page view)
    • Spam comments and trash entries
    • Old post revisions (WordPress stores every version by default)
    • Cache tables that aren't cleared regularly
  3. Clean up or upgrade your hosting plan.

SQL file import aborts

Several causes are possible:

  • File too large for phpMyAdmin (usually > 50 MB): see the section on backup, restore & migration.
  • Timeout during import: For large files, phpMyAdmin sometimes exceeds the time limit. Split the file into smaller parts, or use the command line (if your plan includes SSH).
  • max_allowed_packet too small: Very large individual records can exceed this limit. In that case, you have to recreate the backup and export large tables separately.

How many databases can I create?

The maximum number of databases depends on your konsoleH plan. The current usage is shown at the top of the overview under MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL.

Which database version is running on konsoleH?

You can query the exact version directly from the database:

  • For MariaDB/MySQL in phpMyAdmin: 
    SELECT VERSION();
  • For PostgreSQL in phpPgAdmin: 
    SELECT version();

How can I rename a database?

Renaming an existing database is not directly possible. The usual workaround:

  1. Create a new database with the desired name.
  2. Export the data from the old database (see the backup section).
  3. Import the data into the new database.
  4. Reconfigure your applications to use the new database.
  5. Delete the old database.

How do I completely delete a database?

In konsoleH under MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL, you will find the delete option for each database. Note: A deleted database can be recovered through the normal backup function.

I forgot my password

Database passwords can be reset in konsoleH under MariaDB/MySQL or PostgreSQL by editing the relevant database. The old passwords will be overwritten and cannot be retrieved. Don't forget to update the new password in your applications afterwards.

When nothing else works

If none of the steps above solves your problem, Hetzner support can help. To speed things up, please have the following information ready:

  • The name of the affected database
  • The exact error message (a screenshot is ideal)
  • A short description of what you were trying to do when the error occurred
  • The time when the error first appeared

Closing database ports

By default, database ports 3306 (MariaDB/MySQL) and 5432 (PostgreSQL) are accessible from outside the server. However, access is only possible with a username and password. These ports are protected by our firewall. IP addresses that attempt to log in too frequently with incorrect credentials will be blocked. For managed servers, we can close the ports so that access is only possible via localhost. This is not possible for web hosting packages. If you have a managed server, simply submit an authorized support request from konsoleH. If you need to allow external access for specific IPs, you can configure exceptions in konsoleH. To do so, select the domain and then "Services; Open Ports".

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