---
title: "Deploy PhpMyAdmin"
description: "Web interface for managing MySQL and MariaDB databases"
category: "Storage"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/phpmyadmin-mysql
---

# Deploy PhpMyAdmin

Web interface for managing MySQL and MariaDB databases

**[Deploy PhpMyAdmin on Railway](https://railway.com/template/phpmyadmin-mysql)**

- **Creator:** A3A
- **Category:** Storage
- **Total deploys:** 4

## Template content

### MySQL https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/mysql.svg

- **Image:** mysql:9.4
- **Start command:** `docker-entrypoint.sh mysqld --innodb-use-native-aio=0 --disable-log-bin --performance_schema=0 --innodb-buffer-pool-size=1G`

### phpmyadmin https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/gh/homarr-labs/dashboard-icons/svg/phpmyadmin.svg

- **Source:** https://github.com/gridalpha/phpmyadmin-railway
- **Public domain:** Yes

## Documentation

![phpMyAdmin logo](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTM_mI2IhcjJfWYhSVMXRCF4EgGTkaZnyFZOOEVIxOHA&s=10)

# Deploy and Host phpMyAdmin on Railway

phpMyAdmin is the web interface most of the world uses to look inside a MySQL or MariaDB server. It has been the default database console on shared hosting for two decades and still beats a terminal for what people actually need: browsing rows, fixing a bad value, reading a query result as a table, importing a dump someone emailed you, granting exact privileges to a user. Deploy phpMyAdmin when you want that console for your own database rather than paying per seat for a desktop client or opening a database port.

Self-host phpMyAdmin on Railway and this template gives you two services: the web app on a public HTTPS URL, and a MySQL 9.4 database reachable only over Railway's private network. The browser talks to phpMyAdmin, phpMyAdmin talks to MySQL over `mysql.railway.internal`, and every request is authenticated with a real MySQL username and password. The template also creates phpMyAdmin's configuration storage on first boot — the piece most self-hosted installs skip, and the reason bookmarks, query history, the designer and two-factor authentication already work when you arrive.

![Diagram of the phpMyAdmin and MySQL services on Railway](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1787209714/phpmyadmin-architecture.png)

## Getting Started with phpMyAdmin on Railway

Open the deployed URL and you land on the login form. There are no application accounts to create: phpMyAdmin authenticates against MySQL, so your credentials are the database's. Sign in as `root` with the password from the MySQL service's Variables tab — `MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD`, generated at deploy time. A successful login doubles as a health check on the private link between the services.

Inside, the left panel lists every database: `railway` is the empty one MySQL created, `phpmyadmin` holds the configuration storage. Click **SQL**, create a table and insert rows, then **Browse** to page through them and **Search** to filter without writing a `WHERE` clause. **Designer** draws tables and foreign keys as a diagram; **Export** produces a `.sql` or CSV file you can download.

Before real use, open **Settings → Two-factor authentication** and turn on TOTP or a hardware key: this is a database console on a public URL and phpMyAdmin has no login rate limiting. `PMA_ALLOWDENY_ORDER` and `PMA_ALLOWDENY_RULES` further restrict sign-in to known addresses.

![phpMyAdmin browsing twelve rows of an orders table](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1787209717/phpmyadmin-browse-orders.png)
![phpMyAdmin SQL tab showing revenue grouped by customer](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1787209718/phpmyadmin-sql-revenue-by-customer.png)
![phpMyAdmin Designer showing a foreign key between two tables](https://res.cloudinary.com/rroe4rtk/image/upload/v1787209722/phpmyadmin-designer-relations.png)

## About Hosting phpMyAdmin

phpMyAdmin is a PHP application that speaks to MySQL and MariaDB over the normal client protocol and renders results as a web UI. It holds no data of its own, so it is cheap to run and easy to repoint elsewhere. Teams self-host it when a managed console is missing, too limited or priced per seat, or when they would rather not hand a third party a database credential.

Key features:

- Browse, edit, insert and delete rows without writing SQL
- SQL editor with highlighting, bookmarks and query history
- Visual Designer that reads and writes foreign keys
- Import and export in SQL, CSV, JSON, XML, YAML and PDF
- Privilege management with per-database grants
- Change tracking, two-factor authentication, 70+ languages

The template runs two services. **phpmyadmin** is the web app, built from a public source repository on the official `phpmyadmin:apache` image, with a volume for PHP sessions and the server-side import and export directories. **MySQL** is the database it manages, on its own volume, private by default. The app provisions the configuration storage — a `phpmyadmin` database and a least-privilege `pma` control user — at startup, and keeps its session-signing secret stable so redeploys do not sign anyone out.

## Why Deploy phpMyAdmin on Railway

Railway removes the parts of self-hosting phpMyAdmin that usually go wrong:

- Console and database provisioned together, already wired up
- MySQL stays private — no public database port
- HTTPS, a domain and HSTS with no reverse proxy to configure
- Configuration storage and session secret set up on first boot
- Volumes persist sessions and uploads across redeploys
- Upgrades are a redeploy, not a PHP upgrade weekend

## Common Use Cases

- A shared console for a production MySQL database, instead of handing out desktop-client credentials
- Ad-hoc reporting queries exported as CSV, without a BI tool
- Inspecting a customer's `.sql` dump during support or migration work
- Teaching SQL, where a browser tab beats installing a client

## Dependencies for phpMyAdmin

- **phpMyAdmin 5.2** — the official [`phpmyadmin`](https://hub.docker.com/_/phpmyadmin) image, Apache variant, on PHP 8.3
- **MySQL 9.4** — the [`mysql`](https://hub.docker.com/_/mysql) image, the server being administered
- **A volume on the app service** — PHP sessions plus the `UploadDir` and `SaveDir` directories

The database serves double duty: it is what you administer, and it holds the `pma__*` configuration-storage tables behind bookmarks, query history, designer coordinates, tracking and two-factor secrets. Without them those features are silently unavailable, which is why the template creates them.

### Environment Variables Reference

| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
| `PMA_HOST` / `PMA_PORT` | Server to administer |
| `PMA_ABSOLUTE_URI` | Public base URL; also marks cookies `Secure` |
| `UPLOAD_LIMIT` / `MEMORY_LIMIT` | Import size and PHP memory ceilings |
| `PMA_ARBITRARY` | `1` lets the login form target any server — leave off |
| `PMA_CAPTCHA_PUBLIC_KEY` / `PMA_CAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY` | reCAPTCHA on login |
| `PMA_ALLOWDENY_ORDER` / `PMA_ALLOWDENY_RULES` | IP allow-list for sign-in |

### Deployment Dependencies

- Image , built from 
- Project , docs at 

## Hardware Requirements for Self-Hosting phpMyAdmin

| Resource | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 0.5 vCPU | 1 vCPU |
| RAM | 512 MB app + 512 MB MySQL | 1 GB app + 2 GB MySQL |
| Storage | 1 GB volume | 5 GB plus the database |
| Runtime | PHP 8.2+ with `mysqli` | PHP 8.3 |

phpMyAdmin is light; size the deployment around MySQL and the largest dump you expect to import, which is held in PHP memory on the way through.

## Self-Hosting phpMyAdmin with Docker

The quickest local run points the official image at an existing server:

```
docker run -d --name phpmyadmin -p 8080:80 \
  -e PMA_HOST=db.example.internal \
  -e PMA_PORT=3306 \
  -e PMA_ABSOLUTE_URI=https://dbadmin.example.com/ \
  phpmyadmin:apache
```

To run the console and a database together, use a Compose file:

```
services:
  db:
    image: mysql:9.4
    environment:
      MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD: change-me
    volumes:
      - dbdata:/var/lib/mysql
  phpmyadmin:
    image: phpmyadmin:apache
    environment:
      PMA_HOST: db
      UPLOAD_LIMIT: 256M
    ports:
      - "8080:80"
volumes:
  dbdata:
```

Railway skips the reverse proxy, TLS certificate, volume permissions and setup SQL.

## Is phpMyAdmin Free?

phpMyAdmin is free and open source under GPL-2.0, with no paid edition, seat limits or feature gates. On Railway you pay only for the compute, memory and volume storage the two services use — for a console beside a modest MySQL instance, among the cheapest things you can run.

## phpMyAdmin vs Adminer

| | phpMyAdmin | Adminer |
|---|---|---|
| Databases | MySQL, MariaDB | MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite and more |
| Designer, history, 2FA | Yes | No |

Adminer wins on minimalism and breadth; phpMyAdmin wins on depth for MySQL, where privileges, tracking, the designer and export formats are richer.

## FAQ

**What is phpMyAdmin?**

A free, open-source web application for administering MySQL and MariaDB from a browser: editing data, running SQL, designing schemas, managing users and moving dumps.

**What does this Railway template deploy?**

phpMyAdmin on a public HTTPS URL, and a MySQL 9.4 database on the private network with its own volume. Configuration storage and a control user are created on first boot.

**What are the default login credentials for this template?**

None of phpMyAdmin's own. Sign in with a MySQL account — `root`, with the password shown as `MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD` in the MySQL service's Variables tab.

**Why does the template include a MySQL database?**

phpMyAdmin has no data of its own, so it needs a server to administer — and that database also hosts the `pma__*` tables behind bookmarks, query history, the designer and 2FA.

**Can I point phpMyAdmin at a database I already run?**

Yes. Point `PMA_HOST` and `PMA_PORT` at your server and set `PMA_BOOTSTRAP_USER`/`PMA_BOOTSTRAP_PASSWORD` to an account allowed to create the configuration storage; clear those two and it runs without.

**How do I import a database dump larger than the upload limit?**

Raise `UPLOAD_LIMIT` and `MEMORY_LIMIT`, or put the file in the volume's `upload` directory and pick it from the Import tab's "web server upload directory" option.

**How do I secure a phpMyAdmin instance that is on a public URL?**

Enable two-factor authentication per user under Settings, keep `PMA_ARBITRARY` unset so the login form cannot target other servers, and use `PMA_ALLOWDENY_ORDER` with `PMA_ALLOWDENY_RULES` to restrict sign-in. Every authentication attempt is written to the service logs.


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