When a website on one of your reseller accounts shows a database error, you fix it the same way as on any shared hosting account: read the exact error, check the four connection settings, then look at privileges, limits and damaged tables. The difference is that you work on your customer's account from your reseller panel. This page gives resellers the short checklist and sends you to our full database guide for each fix.
Every database error, what it means and how to fix it, step by step, is in Database troubleshooting. This page covers only what is different when you are the reseller.
Ask your customer for the exact error message and when it started. Open their account from your reseller panel, check that the account is active and not over its disk or database limits, then compare the site's config file with the database name, user and password in the panel: the host is localhost and the names carry the account prefix. If the user is linked to the database and the details are right, check for crashed tables or connection limits. Contact Domain India when phpMyAdmin itself fails, or several accounts on your reseller plan break at once.
1. Get the facts from your customer first
Ask for three things before you touch the account:
- the exact error message, copied, not paraphrased (for example
Access denied for user ... (using password: YES)or "Error establishing a database connection"); - when it started, and what changed just before: a password reset, a plugin update, a migration or an import;
- the domain and, if they know it, the database name.
The message decides which fix applies. The table at the top of Database troubleshooting maps each common message to its cause.
2. Open the customer's account from your reseller panel
You don't need your customer's password to look at their account.
- DirectAdmin reseller: in your reseller level, open List Users, choose the account and use Impersonate to work inside it as that user. Menu layouts differ between DirectAdmin versions, so if you can't find it, use the search box at the top of the panel.
- cPanel reseller (WHM): open List Accounts in WHM and click the cPanel icon next to the account.
Then check the basics your own panel controls: the account is not suspended, it is not over its disk quota (a full quota is a common cause of crashed tables), and its package allows enough databases. If you set the package limits yourself, raise them there.
3. Check the four connection settings
Most database errors come from one of four values in the site's config file (wp-config.php for WordPress):
- Host.For a site on the same hosting account, use
localhost. - Database name.Copy it from the panel. It includes the account username and an underscore, for example
acme_shop. - Database user.It also carries the prefix, for example
acme_shopuser, and is separate from the panel login. - Password.The database user's password, not the panel or client-area password. If it was reset in the panel, update the config file too.
Then check that the user is added to the database with privileges. Creating a database and a user does not link them. The steps for cPanel and DirectAdmin are in section 2 of the full guide.
Quick test: if the same user and password open the database in phpMyAdmin, the fault is in the site's config file or code, not the database.
4. Crashed tables, limits and imports
- "Table is marked as crashed": export a backup first, then repair the table. In DirectAdmin, the database management area has check, repair and optimise actions; phpMyAdmin's Repair table works on every panel. Free disk space first if the account was full.
max_user_connections: too many connections at once, usually from slow queries, bots or no page caching. A bigger package rarely fixes it.- Import errors (
#1044,#1227, file too large, unknown collation): the dump needs adjusting for shared hosting. - Remote tools: MySQL port 3306 is closed to outside connections on our shared servers. Use phpMyAdmin, or an SSH tunnel once jailed SSH is enabled for the account (available on every shared plan, off by default; ask support).
Each fix is written out in Database troubleshooting, sections 4 to 7. For backups, JetBackup 5 keeps weekly copies of every account on our cPanel and DirectAdmin servers, and you can restore a single database from it; see backup and restore with JetBackup.
5. When to contact Domain India
Your customers come to you. You come to us when the problem is on the server side:
- phpMyAdmin will not open for any account;
- several accounts on your reseller plan show database errors at the same time;
- a repair fails, or a table crashes again straight after repair;
- an import is too large to finish yourself.
Open a ticket at /client/support/new while logged in, or at /support/ticket, or use live chat. Give the account's domain, the database name, the exact error and when it started. Never send a password. Resellers get the same support as every Domain India customer: 24/7 live chat, and a first response to tickets within 15 minutes; how long a fix takes depends on the problem. There is no phone support. The wider split of who supports what is in technical support for reseller hosting.
Our DirectAdmin reseller plans start at ₹617 a month (Domain India list price, excluding 18% GST), with a 10% discount on yearly billing and no limit on the number of accounts you create. Compare plans on the reseller hosting page.
Frequently asked questions
What database host should my reseller customers use?
Use localhost for any website running on the same hosting account as its database. The database name and database user both include the account's username prefix, for example acme_shop.
How do I get into a customer's DirectAdmin account without their password?
From your reseller level in DirectAdmin, open List Users, choose the account and use Impersonate. On cPanel reseller hosting, open List Accounts in WHM and click the cPanel icon next to the account.
A customer's site says "Error establishing a database connection". What should I check first?
Check that the database name, database user and password in the site's config file match the panel exactly, including the prefix, that the host is localhost, and that the user is added to the database with privileges. Then test the same login in phpMyAdmin.
Can I repair a crashed table for my customer?
Yes. Export a backup first, then use the repair action in the panel's database area or Repair table in phpMyAdmin. If the account's disk quota was full, free space first, or the table can crash again.
When should I contact Domain India about a customer's database?
When phpMyAdmin will not open, several accounts on your reseller plan fail at once, a repair fails, or an import is too large to finish. Open a ticket or use live chat with the domain, database name, exact error and time it started.
Ready to fix it? Work through Database troubleshooting with your customer's exact error, or open a ticket if the problem is on the server side.
Send us the domain, the database name, the exact error and when it started. Never include a password.
Open a support ticket