Open Dental Not Connecting to the Server in Westerville

When one Westerville workstation shows "Unable to connect to any of the specified MySQL hosts" while the rest of the office works, the server is fine and the fault sits between that computer and it. The vendor's first suspect is a firewall blocking port 3306; after that come the network path and the connection settings in the program's Choose Database window.

Last updated: November 2026

How does a workstation find the server?

Through four settings in File, Choose Database: the server's name (or IP address), the database name, usually "opendental", the MySQL user and its password. If any one of them is wrong, or the computer cannot reach the server by that name, the connection fails. Settings saved in that window stick only when the program was started with Run as Administrator, which is why a fix made on a normal launch can vanish by the next morning.

Which causes come up most?

A firewall on the server

If the program works on the server but not on a workstation, the vendor points to the firewall first: incoming traffic on port 3306 has to be allowed by the Windows firewall and by any firewall built into an antivirus product. A Windows or antivirus update that resets those rules is a common trigger for a workstation that worked yesterday.

The network path

If the firewall is right and the workstation still cannot connect, the vendor calls it a networking issue, such as the computers not being in the same workgroup. Underneath that sit the usual suspects: a cable or switch port, a computer that dropped onto Wi-Fi, or a server whose address changed after a router was replaced.

The connection settings

A server renamed during a rebuild, a typo in the server name, or a MySQL password set on the server but not entered on the workstation. Trying the server's IP address instead of its name separates a naming problem from a firewall problem in a few seconds.

What is checked remotely?

1. Can this computer reach the server at all, by name and by address?
2. Is port 3306 open in the server's firewall, and in any antivirus firewall on it?
3. Do the four Choose Database settings on this workstation match the server's?
4. Can this computer open the shared image folder? A workstation that connects to the database but cannot see images has a share or permissions problem, not a database one.
5. Did anything change today: an update, a new router, a renamed server?

The state's Data Protection Act (Revised Code 1354.02) rewards a written security program that is kept and followed, so a firewall rule that gets changed is written into the practice's records with the date and the reason. The next person to look at that firewall should not have to guess why port 3306 is open.

What about a second office or a remote worker?

The vendor lists three ways a computer can reach the database: a direct connection on the local network, remote desktop to a machine in the office, or the Middle Tier, which sits between the database and the workstations. All three can run over a VPN, and the vendor notes its support technicians do not set up network specifics. What the vendor rules out is opening the database port on the router: exposing the database to the internet is not secure.

A connection over the internet is only as good as the line under it. Westerville also has WeConnect, the city's municipal fiber network, as one option to compare with private carriers when a practice plans the line its remote access depends on. The new server page covers where the server itself should live.

Questions practices ask

It connected yesterday. What changed?

Most often a Windows or antivirus update that reset the firewall, or a router replacement that gave the server a new address.

Every computer is failing, not just one

That is a server problem, not a connection one. Start with the server down page.

Why does it work on the server but nowhere else?

Because the program on the server talks to the database without crossing the network or the firewall. That result alone points at the port, the path or the settings.

Can we turn the firewall off?

The vendor mentions it as a test. Left off, it removes the protection between computers in the office, so the port gets opened properly instead.