Database access

Direct access to an environment’s database is limited, but users can view data in a read-only phpMyAdmin console session or interact with the databases on WPVIP through WP-CLI commands run via VIP-CLI.

Copies of database backups can also be downloaded from an application’s VIP Dashboard or with VIP-CLI.

phpMyAdmin

Users with an Org admin role or an App admin role can access a read-only phpMyAdmin console with the VIP-CLI command vip db phpmyadmin.

The vip db phpmyadmin command opens a phpMyAdmin console for an environment’s database in the user’s default browser. The phpMyAdmin session will persist for 6 hours. To begin a new session run the vip db phpmyadmin command again.

For example, to access phpMyAdmin for the develop environment of the “example-app” application:

$ vip @example-app.develop db phpmyadmin

Refer to phpMyAdmin’s documentation for additional guidance on performing read-only actions in the console.

WP-CLI

WP-CLI commands can be run in the command line using the VIP-CLI vip wp command. Most WP-CLI wp db * commands are disallowed, but wp db query is allowed and defaults to read-only. For write operations, wp db query must be passed with --read-write.

The user will be prompted to confirm the action before a command with  --read-write is run against the database. To skip the confirmation prompt, include the --skip-confirm in the command.

As an alternative, a custom WP-CLI command could run a function that leverages $wpdb->query().

Database queries that include DROP, TRUNCATE, or CREATE cannot be executed.