# Mapping a virtual route to phpmyadmin with rails **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [August 12, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657 "2009-08-12T19:38:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/1 "2009-08-12T19:38:38Z")
How do I setup a route to a virtual path in rails for phpmyadmin, if I want to use that to look over my database? Say the path is at the following: myvirtualpath/admin/phpmyadmin/ If I went to … [http://mysite.com/myvirtualpath/admin/phpmyadmin/](http://mysite.com/myvirtualpath/admin/phpmyadmin/) phpmyadmin will show up fine… With rails if I do it, I will get a routing error… I’m not sure how to add virtual paths in routes.rb with say map.connect etc. Any advice would be appreciated. thanks. ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:22pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/2 "2009-08-12T20:22:22Z")
On Aug 12, 1:38 pm, Alpha B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > – > Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/. I’m confused. Rails routes only map URLs that are passed to Rails to various controllers/actions. phpMyAdmin is not part of your Rails app. What exactly are you trying to accomplish? ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/3 "2009-08-12T20:24:07Z")
Is there any way I can convince you that phpmyadmin is a security hole waiting to happen? If not, then you might just be best off setting up a subdomain for it. Hunted and pecked from my iPhone On Aug 12, 2009, at 10:38 AM, Alpha B. \ **Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/4 "2009-08-12T20:49:48Z") heimdull wrote: > this will protect phpadmin and also encrypt any traffic to and from > phpadmin. If you want to open phpadmin from your rails application > just use link\_to “phpadmin”, “[https://yourserver/phpmyadmin](https://yourserver/phpmyadmin)” thank you - this is the route I will go. ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/5 "2009-08-12T22:13:42Z")
Alpha B. wrote: > How do I setup a route to a virtual path in rails for phpmyadmin, if I > want to use that to look over my database? As others have said, this is a dreadful idea. Set up a separate vhost for it. And if you’re using Webmin as I suggested, you may not need phpmyadmin at all. (The mySQL module isn’t as full-featured as PMA, but it may do what you need.) ## Best, Marnen Laibow-Koser [http://www.marnen.org](http://www.marnen.org) removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/6 "2009-08-12T20:45:48Z")
If you have apache as your frontend you should setup a https virtualhost and put this in the vh \ AuthType Basic AuthName “Restricted Site” AuthUserFile /usr/local/apache2/conf/passwd/passwords Require user username Order allow,deny Satisfy Any alias /phpmyadmin /var/www/phpmyadmin \ Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride None Order allow,deny Allow from all this will protect phpadmin and also encrypt any traffic to and from phpadmin. If you want to open phpadmin from your rails application just use link\_to “phpadmin”, “[https://yourserver/phpmyadmin](https://yourserver/phpmyadmin)” ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 10:28pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/7 "2009-08-12T22:28:29Z")
Marnen Laibow-Koser wrote: > As others have said, this is a dreadful idea. Set up a separate vhost > for it. > > And if you’re using Webmin as I suggested, you may not need phpmyadmin > at all. (The mySQL module isn’t as full-featured as PMA, but it may do > what you need.) Heya Marnen, That’s why I ask mate. 🙂 I have never heard of Webmin - I’ll look into it. I did find an interesting database admin tool that’s being worked on that is fully ruby on rails… > **[GitHub - redox/rbdb: A DB interface written in Rails](https://github.com/redox/rbdb/tree/master)** > > master ---
**Author:** ![elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/da6949/32.png) [@elricstorm](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/elricstorm)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2009, 11:09pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/mapping-a-virtual-route-to-phpmyadmin-with-rails/173657/8 "2009-08-12T23:09:22Z")
I found my solution and didn’t use any of this. Here’s what I did: I used MySQL Query Browser through an SSH tunnel on Putty The following guide worked great: [http://www.vbmysql.com/articles/security/connecting-the-mysql-gui-tools-to-a-remote-server-through-a-firewall](http://www.vbmysql.com/articles/security/connecting-the-mysql-gui-tools-to-a-remote-server-through-a-firewall) No more phpmyadmin 🙂