Connecting a MySQL Destination to Stitch

Prerequisites

• An up-and-running MySQL instance. Instructions for creating a MySQL destination are outside the scope of this tutorial; our instructions assume that you have an instance up and running. For help getting started with MySQL, refer to MySQL’s documentation.

• A database that uses the InnoDB storage engine. This is the default storage engine for all supported MySQL versions and the only one supported by Stitch’s MySQL destination.

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Step 1: Verify your Stitch account's data pipeline region

First, you’ll log into Stitch and verify the data pipeline region your account is using. Later in this guide, you’ll need to grant Stitch access by whitelisting our IP addresses.

The IP addresses you’ll whitelist depend on the Data pipeline region your account is in.

1. Sign into your Stitch account, if you haven’t already.
2. Click User menu (your icon) > Edit User Settings and locate the Data pipeline region section to verify your account’s region.

3. Locate the list of IP addresses for your region:

   • North America region IP addresses

   • Europe region IP addresses

Keep this list handy - you’ll need it later.

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Step 2: Configure database connection settings

In this step, you’ll configure the database server to allow traffic from Stitch to access it. There are two ways to connect your database:

• A direct connection will work if your database is publicly accessible.
• An SSH tunnel is required if your database isn’t publicly accessible. This method uses a publicly accessible instance, or an SSH server, to act as an intermediary between Stitch and your database. The SSH server will forward traffic from Stitch through an encrypted tunnel to the private database.

Click the option you’re using below and follow the instructions.

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Step 3: Create a Stitch MySQL database user

In the following tabs are the instructions for creating a Stitch MySQL database user and explanations for the permissions Stitch requires.

• Instructions
• Privileges list

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Step 4: Enable local data loading

To allow Stitch to stream data from the cloud into your destination, you need to enable the local_infile parameter in MySQL.

1. Check if the feature is already enabled. You can:
   • Look for the local_infile parameter in your my.cnf configuration file.
   • Run the following command from the command line:

       show global variables like 'local_infile';
     

2. If the feature is disabled, enable it. To do so, you can:
   • Append the following line in my.cnf, after the [mysqld] tag. If this tag does not exist, create it. It should look like this:

       [mysqld]
       local_infile=true
     

   • Run the following command while logged in with your root user:

       set global local_infile=true
     

3. If you are using a supported MySQL version older than 8.0 (from 5.7.8 to 5.7.37), you may run into errors stating that you are loading invalid UTF-8 characters. To avoid this issue, append the following lines in my.cnf:

      [mysql]
      default-character-set=utf8mb4
   
      [mysqld]
      character-set-server=utf8mb4
      collation-server=utf8mb4_general_ci
   

   If the [mysql] and [mysqld] tags already exist in the file, add the the values after each tag, otherwise add both the tags and values.

4. Restart your database server to apply the changes.

For more information, see the MySQL documentation.

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Step 5: Connect Stitch

To complete the setup, you need to enter your MySQL connection details into the Destination Settings page in Stitch.

Step 5.1: Enter connection details into Stitch

1. If you aren’t signed into your Stitch account, sign in now.

2. Click the Destination tab.

3. Locate and click the MySQL icon.

4. Fill in the fields as follows:

   • Display Name: Enter a display name for your destination, to distinguish various connections of the same type.

   • Description (optional): Enter a description for your destination.

   • Host (Endpoint): Enter the host address (endpoint) used by the MySQL instance. For example: This could be a network address such as 192.68.0.1, or a server endpoint like dbname.hosting-provider.com.

   • Port: Enter the port used by the MySQL instance. The default is 3306.

   • Username: Enter the Stitch MySQL database user’s username.

   • Password: Enter the password for the Stitch MySQL database user.

Step 5.2: Define SSH connection details

If you’re using an SSH tunnel to connect your MySQL database to Stitch, you’ll also need to define the SSH settings. Refer to the Setting up an SSH Tunnel for a database connection guide for assistance with completing these fields.

1. Click the Encryption Type menu.

2. Select SSH to display the SSH fields.

3. Fill in the fields as follows:

   • Remote Address: Enter the public IP address or hostname of the server Stitch will SSH into.

   • SSH Port: Enter the SSH port on your server. (22 by default)

   • SSH User: Enter the Stitch Linux (SSH) user’s username.

Step 5.3: Define SSL connection details

1. Check the Connect using SSL checkbox. Note: The database must support and allow SSL connections for this setting to work correctly.

2. Fill in the fields as follows:

   • SSL Certificate: Optional: Provide the certificate (typically a CA or server certificate) Stitch should verify the SSL connection against. The connection will succeed only if the server’s certificate verifies against the certificate provided here.

     Note: Providing a certificate isn’t required to use SSL. This is only if Stitch should verify the connection against a specific certificate.

Step 5.4: Save the destination

When finished, click Check and Save.

Stitch will perform a connection test to the MySQL database; if successful, a Success! message will display at the top of the screen. Note: This test may take a few minutes to complete.

Related	Troubleshooting
Choosing a Destination Destination & Integration Compatibility Loading Data into Your Destination Switching Destinations	Destination Connection Errors

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