ER_ACCESS_DENIED_NO_PASSWORD_ERROR meaning confusion

Question

I wrote a js script and it works fine locally, however, when I deploy it to my ubuntu-server I can not connect to the mysql-database. I am getting following error-message:

Error: Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'
    at PromisePool.query (/root/platformbackend/node_modules/mysql2/promise.js:330:22)
    at IdentificationRepositoryImpl.<anonymous> (/root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:19:14)
    at step (/root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:46:23)
    at Object.next (/root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:27:53)
    at /root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:21:71
    at new Promise (<anonymous>)
    at __awaiter (/root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:17:12)
    at IdentificationRepositoryImpl.setupTable (/root/platformbackend/src/Repository/IdentificationRepositoryImpl.ts:61:16)
    at /root/platformbackend/src/SitServer/SitServer.ts:60:24
    at Array.map (<anonymous>) {
  code: 'ER_ACCESS_DENIED_NO_PASSWORD_ERROR',
  errno: 1698,
  sqlState: '28000',
  sqlMessage: "Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'"

The code, the error originates from is (in condensed form) following:

const connectionOptions = {
    host: process.env.DB_HOST || 'localhost',
    user: process.env.DB_USER || 'root',
    password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD || '',
    database: process.env.DB_NAME || 'test_db',
};

const connection = createPool(connectionOptions);

const insertId = await connection
    .promise()
    .query(sql)
    .then(result => result)
    .catch(error => console.error(error));

Now I am confused, what the error code ER_ACCESS_DENIED_NO_PASSWORD_ERROR actually means.

Does it mean, that I provided an empty password?
Or does it mean, that it didn't receive a password and it thinks there is no password provided (not even an empty one)?
Or does it mean, that it doesn't expect a password to be provided, but it got one?

I have tried...

...setting the root's password to an empty string and providing an empty string as password
...setting the root's password to an empty string and providing no password entry in connectionOptions
...setting the root's password and providing the password in the password entry in connectionOptions

but all with the same error as outcome.

Some research and approaches I also already tried:

Thank you for any help, pointing me in the right direction. If I'm missing any debugging-details, I'm happy to provide them upon request.

Sidenote: I know I shouldn't use the root-user, it's a testing server.

I did, yes... and then I removed it for testing reasons and added it again :/ — Argee, Jul 23 '20 at 13:43
Then possibly `password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD || 'Put_The_password_in_Here',` — RiggsFolly, Jul 23 '20 at 14:13

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Jul 23 '20 at 14:12

2

Oh great, having followed this tutorial the fourth time, it suddenly worked... I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

If I find out, what went different this time, I'll update this very unsatisfying answer.

answered Jul 23 '20 at 14:12

Argee

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Been there. https://unijokes.com/joke-2082/ – Trade-Ideas Philip Nov 24 '22 at 05:00

Stijn de Witt · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-23T13:31:14.833

I think this error means that you tried to login without a password. And yes, I think MySQL considers a password of '' (empty string) the same as no password.

Check that process.env.DB_PASSWORD is set. Maybe log to the console whether it was set:

console.info('process.env.DB_PASSWORD was ' + (!process.env.DB_PASSWORD ? 'NOT ' : '') + 'set')

I think whether or not logging in without a password is allowed is a MySQL setting that you can edit somewhere in the .ini file, but in order to prevent the hassle I just always use the password secret for my testing instances and have code like this:

const connectionOptions = {
    // ...
    password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD || 'secret',
    // ...
};

yes, it is set... i'll do the `password: process.env.DB_PASSWORD || 'secret'` anyways, thank you — Argee, Jul 23 '20 at 14:01

ER_ACCESS_DENIED_NO_PASSWORD_ERROR meaning confusion

2 Answers2